Markets
markets
Helena Cheng

Target sinks on expense concerns despite Q1 earnings beat

Target shares are sinking in volatile early Wednesday trading, erasing its premarket gains as investor anxiety over rising corporate overhead and tightening profit margins appeared to overawe strong Q1 earnings results that beat Wall Street estimates.

Key numbers:

  • Revenue of $25.44 billion (estimate: $24.11 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $1.71 (estimate: $1.43).

  • Same-store sales growth of 5.6% (estimate: 1.85%).

Target's headline numbers signaled clear, if partial, comeback story with 6.7% net sales growth, breaking a year-long slump. The company also raised its full-year sales growth forecast to 4.0% compared with 2025, double its previous forecast of 2% growth. The company now projects annual EPS to land at the high end of its $7.50 to $8.50 range, beating the $8.10 consensus estimate from Wall Street.

However, Target’s operational expenses climbed to 21.9% of its total revenue last quarter, up from last year, with the company citing "higher compensation costs" and "higher marketing expense" to explain the jump . These rising costs were only partially offset by the boost from Target's strong sales growth.

"While we have momentum, we’re also being cautious about the near-term operating environment," said Michael Fiddelke, CEO of Target. "With consumers weighing multiple headwinds and tailwinds, and recent dips in consumer sentiment, we continue to place a premium on flexibility, not wanting to swing too hard too quickly, despite the early signs of momentum we’re seeing."

This is the first earnings report under newly appointed CEO Michael Fiddelke, who officially took the helm in February and who’s focused on enhancing operational efficiency amid a prolonged retail sales slump.

Target yesterday announced that it tapped former Walmart exec Jeff England as chief supply chain officer to optimize inventory and delivery, part of a wider $6 billion turnaround. The retailer is also overhauling its beauty, baby, and apparel categories through exclusive Parke and “Pokémon” partnerships, though margins remain sensitive to inventory markdowns and labor costs.

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markets
Helena Cheng

Micron jumps on looming Samsung strike

Micron shares are climbing early Wednesday, breaking a sharp multi-day semiconductor pullback. The rally comes amid the potential for a critical supply-side disruption at one of its largest global competitors, Samsung Electronics, as well as building investor enthusiasm ahead of Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report.

As demand for AI compute accelerates, Micron is increasingly viewed as a top-tier beneficiary due to its role in the critical high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market. The operational catalyst sparking Micron’s rally is a massive looming labor dispute in South Korea. According to Reuters, roughly 48,000 Samsung workers are set to begin an 18-day strike Thursday after negotiations broke down.

As global HBM production is effectively controlled by Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, any manufacturing hiccup at Samsung shifts pricing leverage to Micron. This backdrop comes as South Korea’s broader chip ecosystem is benefiting from the global infrastructure boom, pushing the country to the seventh-largest stock market in the world.

Micron has been expanding its own AI memory footprint. In March, the company completed its acquisition of PSMC’s Tongluo P5 site, a strategic integration designed to scale its domestic HBM production capacity and meet accelerating hyperscaler demand.

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What Wall Street’s looking for from Nvidia’s Q1 results

Further upside to its $1 trillion revenue guidance, more customer success, and shareholder returns.

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markets
Paige Oamek

Roblox jumps after announcing $3 billion share buyback plan

Roblox rallied in postmarket trading on Tuesday after unveiling its first-ever share repurchase program.

The somewhat controversial, but certainly popular, gaming company has put forth a plan for $3 billion in future stock buybacks, with the intention to back up to $1 billion over the next 12 months. The stock subsequently jumped 4% after-hours.

On Tuesday, Naveen Chopra, chief financial officer of Roblox, said:

“Investing in continued growth will always be our highest priority, but the strength of our balance sheet and free cash flow generation allows us to support industry leading innovation while simultaneously reducing dilution.”

As of Q1 2026, Roblox had $6.2 billion in total cash, cash equivalents, and investments (for a net $5.2 billion after subtracting its $1.0 billion in debt). The company posted a consolidated net loss of $248 million in Q1.

While management has the cash on hand for a $3 billion buyback, the stock been taking hits recently — falling 28% over the past month (and 45% since the beginning of the year) as the company adjusts its safety standards. In April, the video game company slashed its full-year guidance due to age verification hurdles, which have slowed growth.

markets
Paige Oamek

Cava rallies after Q1 results impress and management hikes full-year guidance

Cava jumped 8% after the bell on Tuesday after the fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain was able to bring in more customers and drive up more revenue than expected in the first quarter, with management signaling that this momentum is poised to continue.

Here are the numbers:

  • Q1 revenue of $434.4 million (compared to analyst estimates of $418.2 million).

  • Q1 adjusted EBITDA of $61.7 million (estimate: $57.3 million).

  • Full-year guidance for same-restaurant sales growth of 4.5% to 6.5%, up from its prior guidance of 3% to 5% and above estimates for 4.95%.

The company also posted traffic growth of 6.8% — blowing away salad competitor Sweetgreen’s traffic decrease of 11.2% in the first quarter.

“We’re creating a bit of a bridge in a K-shaped economy and becoming very accessible for the low-income cohorts,” CFO Tricia Tolivar told Restaurant Dive. “When we look at our restaurant stratified based on median household income, we’re seeing tremendous strength in the lower-income cohorts.”

The performance of these fast-casual establishments (or slop bowl chains) has been a way to keep an eye on our increasingly unequal economy. Interestingly, as especially younger consumers seem to be pulling back, at some of these restaurants, Cava continues to perform well.

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