On May 18, 2022, before trading hours, Target announced its first quarter 2022 financial results in a press release. The Company also provided guidance, expecting second quarter 2022 “operating income margin rate [to] be in a wide range centered around first quarter’s operating margin rate of 5.3 percent.”
On this news, Target’s stock price fell $53.67 per share, or over 25%, to close at $161.61 per share on May 18, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.
Then, just three weeks later, on June 7, 2022, before trading hours, Target revised its guidance, expecting the second quarter 2022 operating margin rate to “be in a range around 2%.” The Company attributed the change to “a set of actions to right-size [Target’s] inventory for the balance of the year[.]”
On this news, Target’s stock fell $3.69, or 2.3%, to close at $155.98 per share on June 7, 2022.