Target - 10-Q quarterly report FY2012 Q1

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES

EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended April 28, 2012

Commission File Number 1-6049

TARGET CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 612/304-6073

Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report: N/A

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.                Yes  x  No  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).             Yes  x   No  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).

Large accelerated filer  x  Accelerated filer  o  Non-accelerated filer  o  Smaller Reporting company  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).                Yes o  No x

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of registrant’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. Total shares of common stock, par value $0.0833, outstanding at May 18, 2012 were 661,205,822.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)

1. Accounting Policies

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statement disclosures contained in the 2011 Form 10-K for Target Corporation (Target or the Corporation). The same accounting policies are followed in preparing quarterly financial data as are followed in preparing annual data. See the notes in our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012, for those policies. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of quarterly operating results are reflected herein and are of a normal, recurring nature.

Due to the seasonal nature of our business, quarterly revenues, expenses, earnings and cash flows are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.

2. Earnings Per Share

Basic earnings per share (EPS) is calculated as net earnings divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted EPS includes the potentially dilutive impact of share-based awards outstanding at period end, consisting of the incremental shares assumed to be issued upon the exercise of stock options and the incremental shares assumed to be issued under performance share and restricted stock unit arrangements.

(a) Excludes 12 million and 15 million share-based awards for the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively, because their effects were antidilutive.

3. Fair Value Measurements

Fair value measurements are categorized into one of three levels based on the lowest level of significant input used: Level 1 (unadjusted quoted prices in active markets); Level 2 (observable market inputs available at the measurement date, other than quoted prices included in Level 1); and Level 3 (unobservable inputs that cannot be corroborated by observable market data).

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(a) There was one interest rate swap designated as an accounting hedge at April 28, 2012 and January 28, 2012, and none at April 30, 2011. See Note 7 for additional information on interest rate swaps.

(b) Company-owned life insurance investments consist of equity index funds and fixed income assets. Amounts are presented net of loans that are secured by some of these policies of $677 million at April 28, 2012, $669 million at January 28, 2012 and $648 million at April 30, 2011.

The following table presents the carrying amounts and estimated fair values of financial instruments not measured at fair value in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. The fair value of marketable securities is determined using available market prices at the reporting date and would be classified in Level 1. The fair value of debt is generally measured using a discounted cash flow analysis based on current market interest rates for similar types of financial instruments and would be classified in Level 2.

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(a)  Held-to-maturity investments that are held to satisfy the regulatory requirements of Target Bank and Target National Bank.

(b) Represents the sum of nonrecourse debt collateralized by credit card receivables and unsecured debt and other borrowings excluding unamortized swap valuation adjustments and capital lease obligations.

Based on various inputs and assumptions, including discussions with third parties in the context of our intended sale, we believe the gross balance of our credit card receivables approximates fair value at April 28, 2012. The carrying amounts of accounts payable and certain accrued and other current liabilities also approximate fair value at April 28, 2012.

4. Credit Card Receivables

Credit card receivables are recorded net of an allowance for doubtful accounts and are our only significant class of financing receivables. Substantially all past-due accounts accrue finance charges until they are written off. Accounts are written off when they become 180 days past due.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The allowance for doubtful accounts is recognized in an amount equal to the anticipated future write-offs of existing receivables and includes provisions for uncollectible finance charges and other credit-related fees. We estimate future write-offs on the entire credit card portfolio collectively based on historical experience of delinquencies, risk scores, aging trends and industry risk trends.

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(a) Write-offs include the principal amount of losses (excluding accrued and unpaid finance charges), and recoveries include current period collections on previously written-off balances. These amounts combined represent net write-offs.

Deterioration of the macroeconomic conditions in the United States could adversely affect the risk profile of our credit card receivables portfolio based on credit card holders’ ability to pay their balances. If such deterioration were to occur, it could lead to an increase in bad debt expense. We monitor both the credit quality and the delinquency status of the credit card receivables portfolio. We consider accounts 30 or more days past due as delinquent, and we update delinquency status daily. We also monitor risk in the portfolio by assigning internally generated scores to each account and by obtaining current FICO scores, a nationally recognized credit scoring model, for a statistically representative sample of accounts each month. The credit-quality segmentation presented below is consistent with the approach used in determining our allowance for doubtful accounts.

Under certain circumstances, we offer cardholder payment plans that meet the accounting definition of a troubled debt restructuring (TDR). These plans modify finance charges, minimum payments and/or extend payment terms. Modified terms do not change the balance of the loan. These concessions are made on an individual cardholder basis for economic or legal reasons specific to each individual cardholder’s circumstances. Cardholders are not allowed additional charges while participating in a payment plan.

(a) Includes loans modified within the twelve months prior to each respective period end.

(b) Represents account balance at the time of default. We define default as not paying the full fixed payment amount for two consecutive billing cycles.

Receivables in cardholder payment plans that meet the definition of a TDR are treated consistently with other receivables in determining our allowance for doubtful accounts. Accounts that complete their assigned payment plan are no longer considered TDRs. As of April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011 there were 109 thousand and 141 thousand modified contracts with outstanding receivables of $247 million and $365 million, respectively. Payments received on troubled debt restructurings are first applied to finance charges and fees, then to the unpaid principal balance.

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Funding for Credit Card Receivables

As a method of providing funding for our credit card receivables, we sell, on an ongoing basis, all of our consumer credit card receivables to Target Receivables LLC (TR LLC), a wholly owned, bankruptcy remote subsidiary. TR LLC then transfers the receivables to the Target Credit Card Master Trust (the Trust), which from time to time will sell debt securities to third parties, either directly or through a related trust. These debt securities represent undivided interests in the Trust assets. TR LLC uses the proceeds from the sale of debt securities and its share of collections on the receivables to pay the purchase price of the receivables to the Corporation.

We consolidate the receivables within the Trust and any debt securities issued by the Trust, or a related trust, in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. The receivables transferred to the Trust are not available to general creditors of the Corporation.

All interests in our Credit Card Receivables issued by the Trust are accounted for as secured borrowings. Interest and principal payments are satisfied provided the cash flows from the Trust assets are sufficient and are nonrecourse to the general assets of the Corporation. If the cash flows are less than the periodic interest, the available amount, if any, is paid with respect to interest. Interest shortfalls will be paid to the extent subsequent cash flows from the assets in the Trust are sufficient. Future principal payments will be made from the third party’s pro rata share of cash flows from the Trust assets.

In March 2012 we amended the 2006/2007 Series Variable Funding Certificate to obtain additional funding of $500 million and to extend the maturity to 2013. Parties who hold the Variable Funding Certificate receive interest at a variable short-term market rate.

5. Commitments and Contingencies

We are exposed to claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business and use various methods to resolve these matters in a manner that we believe serves the best interest of our shareholders and other constituents. We believe the recorded reserves in our consolidated financial statements are adequate in light of the probable and estimable liabilities. We do not believe that any of the currently identified claims or litigation will be material to our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

6. Notes Payable and Long-Term Debt

We obtain short-term financing from time to time under our commercial paper program, a form of notes payable.

7. Derivative Financial Instruments

Historically our derivative instruments have primarily consisted of interest rate swaps, which are used to mitigate interest rate risk. We have counterparty credit risk with large global financial institutions resulting from our derivative instruments. We monitor this concentration of counterparty credit risk on an ongoing basis. See Note 3 for a description of the fair value measurement of our derivative instruments.

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Of the shares reacquired, a portion was delivered upon settlement of prepaid forward contracts as follows:

(a) These contracts are among the investment vehicles used to reduce our economic exposure related to our nonqualified deferred compensation plans. The details of our positions in prepaid forward contracts have been provided in Note 10.

(b)  At their respective settlement dates.

10. Pension, Postretirement Health Care and Other Benefits

We have qualified defined benefit pension plans covering team members who meet age and service requirements, including in certain circumstances, date of hire. We also have unfunded nonqualified pension plans for team members with qualified plan compensation restrictions. Eligibility for, and the level of, these benefits varies depending on team members’ date of hire, length of service and/or team member compensation. Upon early retirement and prior to Medicare eligibility, team members also become eligible for certain health care benefits if they meet minimum age and service requirements and agree to contribute a portion of the cost. Effective January 1, 2009, our qualified defined benefit pension plan was closed to new participants, with limited exceptions.

We are not required to make any contributions in 2012. However, depending on investment performance and plan funded status, we may elect to make a contribution.

Our unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plan is offered to approximately 3,500 current and retired team members whose participation in our 401(k) plan is limited by statute or regulation. These team members choose from a menu of crediting rate alternatives that are the same as the investment choices in our 401(k) plan, including Target common stock. We credit an additional 2 percent per year to the accounts of all active participants, excluding members of our management executive committee, in part to recognize the risks inherent to their participation in a plan of this nature. We also maintain a nonqualified, unfunded deferred compensation plan that was frozen during 1996, covering substantially fewer than 100 participants, most of whom are retired. In this plan, deferred compensation earns returns tied to market levels of interest rates plus an additional 6 percent return, with a minimum of 12 percent and a maximum of 20 percent, as determined by the plan’s terms.

We mitigate some of our risk of offering the nonqualified plans through investing in vehicles, including company-owned life insurance and prepaid forward contracts in our own common stock, that offset a substantial portion of our economic exposure to the returns of these plans. These investment vehicles are general corporate assets and are marked to market with the related gains and losses recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations in the period they occur.

The total change in fair value for contracts indexed to our own common stock recognized in earnings was pretax income/(loss) of $11 million and $(7) million during the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively. For the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, we invested $7 million and $16 million, respectively, in such investment instruments, and this activity is included in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows within other investing activities. Adjusting our position in these investment vehicles may involve repurchasing shares of Target common stock

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when settling the forward contracts as described in Note 9. The settlement dates of these instruments are regularly renegotiated with the counterparty.

11. Segment Reporting

Our segment measure of profit is used by management to evaluate the return on our investment and to make operating decisions.

Note: The sum of the segment amounts may not equal the total amounts due to rounding.

(a) The combination of bad debt expense and operations and marketing expenses, less amounts the U.S. Retail Segment charges the U.S. Credit Card Segment for loyalty programs, within the U.S. Credit Card Segment represent credit card expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

(b) Loyalty program charges were $65 million and $49 million for the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively. In all periods, these amounts were recorded as reductions to SG&A expenses within the U.S. Retail Segment and increases to operations and marketing expenses within the U.S. Credit Card Segment.

(c) The combination of interest expense on nonrecourse debt collateralized by credit card receivables and other net interest expense represent net interest expense on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Executive Summary

Consolidated revenues were $16,867 million for the three months ended April 28, 2012, an increase of $932 million or 5.9 percent from the same period in the prior year. Consolidated earnings before interest expense and income taxes for first quarter 2012 increased by $21 million or 1.6 percent over first quarter 2011 to $1,285 million. Cash flow provided by operations was $1,307 million and $1,052 million for the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively. Diluted earnings per share in the first quarter increased 5.0 percent to $1.04 from $0.99 in the same period a year ago. Adjusted diluted earnings per share, which we believe is useful in providing period-to-period comparisons of the results of our U.S. operations, increased 11.5 percent to $1.11 in first quarter 2012 from $0.99 in the same period a year ago.

Note: A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures is provided on page 20.

(a) Adjustments represent the diluted EPS impact of our planned 2013 Canadian market entry and the favorable resolution of various income tax matters.

Our financial results for the first quarter of 2012 in our U.S. Retail Segment reflect increased sales of 6.1 percent over the same period last year due to a 5.3 percent comparable-store increase combined with the contribution from new stores. In first quarter 2012 we experienced U.S. Retail Segment EBITDA and EBIT margin rate improvements compared to first quarter 2011, driven by strong year-over-year sales growth resulting in leverage on selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.

In the U.S. Credit Card Segment, we experienced a decrease in segment profit due to annualizing over a significant reserve reduction in the prior year and a smaller portfolio resulting in lower finance charge revenue, partially offset by lower interest expense.

During the three months ended April 28, 2012, loss before interest expense and income taxes in our Canadian Segment totaled $55 million, comprised of start-up costs and depreciation, compared to $11 million during the three months ended April 30, 2011.

Analysis of Results of Operations

U.S. Retail Segment