Some Questions Are Just Impossible To Answer
By Mitch Berg
Why is Target having trouble?
“They’ve had trouble keeping their shelves stocked for years, now”.
But their stock boomed, especially during the pandemic (thanks, all you governors that strangled the competition).
No – there’s just something about May 2023.
September 25th, 2023 at 6:30 am
Mentioning Chick-fil-A along with Target’s woes, brought a nice chuckle.
The Chick-fil-A in Bloomington shares Target’s parking lot. During lunch and dinner, the double lines of eager customers, are around the building for about two hours. Based on the laws of probability, I’m betting that at least half of them are DemoCommies.
Just to the west of Target, again sharing their parking lot, is the equally dreaded Hobby Lobby. I know for certain that woke blue voters shop there, because I have seen them. This includes my wife and her side of the family.
September 25th, 2023 at 7:46 am
In totally unrelated news, a friend reports business at the Dollar Tree is booming, best quarter ever.
September 25th, 2023 at 7:56 am
DEI principles demand that DEI be incorporated into every aspect of corporate operations, from whom is hired and promoted to where stores are located, how products are marketed, and what is sold. DEI stands opposed to free market principles. The free exchange of goods (and ideas) is anathema to DEI principles. DEI is literally whatever people do NOT choose to do freely.
And it’s not just the mega corporations that have embraced DEI. All of America’s governing institutions now have woven DEI into their structures. It doesn’t matter if the constitution guarantees you freedom of speech and freedom of religion if the DOJ, the legal profession, academia, the media, and the military say that it doesn’t. No ruling by the supreme court can save you.
September 25th, 2023 at 8:46 am
MP, it is a lost cause. Have you perused D&B lately? Front and center with company info is their ESG score.
September 25th, 2023 at 9:48 am
Target got into trouble because they stocked trannie swimwear which provoked a backlash from the Right Wing Kooks. Okay, so pacify the kooks by offering clothing they like. I suggest a line of t-shirts with catchy slogans:
“If not America First, then who?”
“Why NOT make America great again?”
“Saint Who? Nah, let’s stick with Pig’s Eye.”
and my personal favorite . . .
“I thought Dumbfuck WAS your pronoun.”
September 25th, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Sorry. The nonsense spewed by an arrogant, ignorant, affirmative-action bint played zero role when Target’s stock dropped in May. Based on the 1st quarter numbers and Target’s comments about the rest of year, a number of Big Bank analysts reduced their recommendations (buy to hold, hold to sell). Analysts with enough clout have the power to drop a stock price, especially nowadays with such a jittery market.
NB, given the price of Target’s stock right now along with the 3rd quarter expectations, a guy could contemplate buying TGT now.
I would add – but shouldn’t need to – that coincidence is not causation. Second, one of the more important rules about investing is to, as much as possible, keep politics out of your deliberations.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:44 pm
JDM, keep in mind that the drop is really in late May, which does correlate with the swimsuit debacle. Now I’d personally been asking my family not to shop there for a while, because I’d noticed that whenever my family shopped there, they ended up spending a LOT more money than planned, but the “crotch space” swimsuit and training kids to accept transgenderism helped us really to decide not to go there.
Perhaps people will forget in the future, but I’m personally enjoying Target’s pain. I am more than tired of their “we’re thinner than you, sexier than you, buy our stuff” schtick.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:28 pm
I have not been the “target” demographic for that chain for ages.
They don’t carry what I want. I cannot buy a necktie, shotgun shell, spark plug or 2×4. They do have “camo” clothes but looking at them, it is to laugh.
The largest waist size is 42 which, sadly, is not going to cut it anymore. I carefully scrutinized their online ads for People Who Look Like Me (because that’s the rule nowadays – you can only shop at stores whose models look like you – I learned that in Diversity Class). Based on the ads, 80% of Target’s customer base is young Black people with a few Asians and Hispanics thrown in. No Old White Guys in any of the ads. And, of course, Target Bans Guns in Their Premises.
Which is fine, if they don’t want my business, I’m happy to go elsewhere. There’s a Fleet Farm just down the road. Plus, they have candy in the discount size bags. Excellent for grandkids and the grandpas who spoil them.
September 25th, 2023 at 4:39 pm
^ bb, I’m looking at the chart right now. The drop started on May 17, the day the earnings were released. I have no idea when the video of that tweet was recorded, but the tweet was from May 26.
I’ll add that you seem to think that a lot of shares were sold because a lot of “conservatives” were shocked (I tell you) and/or offended by Target’s activities. A lot of shares, let’s be generous and say a few million. But you forget or don’t know that millions and millions of TGT shares are owned by institutions. Institutions own some 80% of TGT’s 461 million shares. Institutions like Blackrock and Vanguard who support and encourage those ESG, DEI, LGBT-whatever activities TGT is up to.
Target as a corporation has indeed been affected by boycott activity, organized or not. I know a number of people who were solid Target customers who no longer shop there. Target has been hit hard, but as you can see in the linked-to post from June 8th, there are lots of (female) spouses who refuse to even consider shopping elsewhere than at Target, so ultimately the whole boycott has been pretty thin beer. And has not affected the stock price to any great degree.
September 25th, 2023 at 8:52 pm
Even institutional investors get scared when those with families (not just the reactionary right, really) start saying “we’ll go elsewhere” in response to their Pride month festivities, I think. You’re right that bad earnings came about the same time, but I think it also had something to do with their Pride Month festivities.
September 26th, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Target closing 9 stores in New York, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco due to theft and organized retail crime. All blue cities. Shocking…