On 25 th February, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) will be publishing the financial reports for its last quarter of 2014. Previously, significant news came from Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) when it announced that the company will no longer continue its operations in Canada.

It has been expected by the analysts that Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) will be posting adjusted EPS of $1.45. This marks an 11% Year over Year increase. On the other hand, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) expects that the company will be posting EPS of $1.47. It is further predicted that the gross profit margin of the company would reach 28%, accounting for an increase of 110 basis points. The net profit margins expected is 4.3%, after an increase of 190 basis points.

Moreover, it is expected that Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) will be generating $21.67 billion in revenues for its last quarter. This accounts for a 1% Year over Year increase. As per the company’s guidance, the comparable sales of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) will have 3% growth. Out of the last 10 quarters, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has outperformed in four of the quarters when it comes to Earnings per Share estimated by the Wall Street.

Moreover, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has performed better than the consensus expectations throughout previous four quarters. Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) had published adjusted Earnings per Share of $0.54 in its third quarter, which was more than the predictions by analysts of $0.47, by a whole 15.14%. While Wall Street had anticipated the company’s revenue to be $17.55 billion, the actual revenue was 1.01% more, with the total figure at $17.73 billion.

On the flip side, the Gross Profit Margin for the third quarter had declined to 29.2%, with the decline amounting to 50 basis points. The net profit had remained the same at 2%. With these results, the stock of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) increased by 7.4%.

Although Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) experienced retail sales which were less than what was being expected, it is still estimated that the company will be able to perform better than what the analysts have predicted for its last quarter.

The foot traffic of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) decreased in first 3 quarters which accounted for a decline of 2 .3% in quarter one, 1.3% decline in quarter two and 0.4% decline in quarter three.

It must be noted that the company had a lot of customers coming in throughout the holiday season. This reflects that there will be increased sales and revenues. Furthermore, exiting the Canadian market is expected to increase earnings of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), but the profit margins of the company would still face challenges owing to more sales of the products which have low margins.

Analysts have given Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) ratings of an average of neutral to bullish. 17 analysts have given Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) a market rating of Perform. While 12 analysts have given the company a rating of Outperform, with only 4 analysts giving the company bearish rating. The consensus targeted price given to company for next one year is $77. This would mean potential marginal return of 0.2% at the closing stock price of $76.9.