Target's Weak Outlook; TXJ Miss; UnitedHealth Drops

On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Target (TGT) shares are lower this morning after the company cut its sales forecast due to a weaker-than-expected quarter, with comparable sales dropping 3.8% and net sales expected to decline by a low single digit this year. he company is taking steps to drive traffic back into its stores and website, including management reshuffles, a new "multiyear acceleration office", and a focus on offering new items and key products at a good value.
- Lowe's (LOW) moved upwards this morning after comparable sales beat expectations in the latest quarter, despite a 1.7% dip, and the company expects the key sales metric to be flat to up 1% this year. The results suggest that US consumers have maintained home spending despite economic turbulence, with many deferring big projects due to high interest rates but pursuing smaller ones.
- TJX (TJX), the parent of T.J. Maxx and other retailers, saw shares fa;; after the company's guidance missed average analyst estimates for the second quarter. It posted a profit of $1.04 billion for fiscal first quarter, which is down slightly from $1.07 billion in the same quarter last year.
- UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is on the downswing today amid another bad press report. The Guardian reported that the health insurer secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers for ailing residents.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves
in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Let's take a look at some of the stocks the
stock movers today. I'm time Keen with Paul Sweeney and
Bloomberg's Lisa Matteo. They do, okay, there, that was.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Excellent, Thank you, I love it. Okay, we are retail
focused today. All we have to start with Target. Their
shares have been down as much as three percent the
basic it cuted sales forecast weaker than expected quarter. So
the company pointed to a few things, right, there's people
spending less on things like clothing, home goods, discretionary items,
falling consumer confidence, there's uncertainty over tariffs. Right shoppers. They

(00:48):
also boycotted because they had that decision when they stop
those diversity initiatives. So people didn't like that. Comparable sales
they dropped three point eight percent. Shout out the company
they did, Yes, really the company did. They said, people
are boycotting, Uh, slower shopper traffic. And the thing is
consumers what they're doing too, They're spending less per visit.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
So that's another thing. Why did you hear this at
home Deepot?

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Did I know the difference? There is a slight difference,
especially when it comes to price increases and things like that,
because remember we've had Walmart like talking about we're going
to raise prices because of Tariff's home people said no,
we're not. Come on Target saying.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
There had a government of fairs goes that didn't work
for Walmart. Change knows what they're going to do. Well.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
When your CEO, like the CEO of Target, is saying,
you know what, we're not happy with the results, that's
that's a red flag. The only they did have one
bright spot though, that was e commerce. They did say
that that was doing well. But they're they're just they've
been struggling. If six months ago everything was just hungry,
I agree, got that right. I mean the big part

(01:50):
is that so much makes up of their sales sixty
five percent is like those consumable goods, whereas you have
Walmart who has the groceries. But Target that's a big
thing for them. Okay, t j X stick with retail,
that's apparent. TJ Max Marshall's home goods shares have been
down as much as two percent, so it top first
quarter earnings and revenue expectations. But the thing is is
that they warned that higher tariffs could lead to softer

(02:13):
than expected second quarter earning, so it was kind of
that look ahead that investors didn't like. So that's why
their shares are lower. But they're known as like the
discount retailer, I mean and Alex are all over to
get because they have the name brands, but they're still struggling.
So it just goes to show your butt who's not struggling. Yes, no, yeah,

(02:34):
so load.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Which there's like eight lows, which lows? Is this?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
This is the home improvement lows, Home depot loads, yes,
home deal okay, you could say home deeper loads.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Their shares have been higher about three percent before the bell,
so they maintained the outlook even though sales fell last quarter,
but it fell less than expected, so you time that
right into the home depot earnings. So it looks like
consumers still spending on their homes things like that home improvement.
They're putting off the big project so due to high
interest rates, but they're keeping these smaller projects. So a
lot of the smaller projects are what's really helping the

(03:05):
stores right now. It's been doing things to improve you know,
they focus on boosting offerings for professional contractors, like they're
trying things like that. They're trying to handle larger projects,
investing across the online business. The interesting thing is that
the home category is usually vulnerable to tires because a
lot of the products are sourced from overseas. They also
tend to be discretionary on top of that. But low

(03:28):
shares have been higher before the bell. And the last
I want to point out to because we've been talking
about it over the past couple of days, is United Health. Right,
it's on this roller coaster ride. The shares are up, down,
up and down, up and down. Before the bell. It's
back on the downside. It's falling as much as six
percent this morning. The reason why, well, the latest thing

(03:49):
is this report from The Guardian says that the company
is secretly paying nursing homes to reduce hospital trans for residents.
So you said it, it's just been a mess and
that's the issue. So this morning their shares are love.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
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