Target Gets a Lift as Shoppers Come Back, But the Retailer Is Still Keeping its Guard up

Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, Investor’s Business Daily, Axios, and CNBC contributed to this report.

Target finally has a little momentum to brag about.

The retailer said Wednesday that comparable sales rose 5.6% in its latest quarter, its best showing in four years, as shoppers kept spending even with gas prices higher and confidence weaker. That was enough for Target to raise its full-year sales outlook and say its turnaround is starting to show up in the numbers.

The company’s core customer, according to CEO Michael Fiddelke, is still showing up. He said shoppers are “resilient,” and the gains were spread across income groups and across the store, including toys, beauty and other more discretionary categories. That is a good sign for a chain that has spent a lot of time trying to shake off a rough stretch.

But nobody inside Target is pretending the road ahead is smooth. Shoppers are still willing to buy, just not on everything. Bigger projects are getting postponed, and the company sounded pretty clear that the consumer is engaged only up to a point.

The quarter itself beat Wall Street’s estimates. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.71 a share, topping expectations, and revenue reached $25.44 billion. Traffic was up both in stores and online, with digital sales getting a boost from same-day delivery and Target’s membership program.

The return to growth is showing up in the merchandise mix too. Target said sales rose across all six of its core categories, while its non-merchandise businesses, including Roundel advertising and Target Plus, grew sharply. Limited-edition collaborations, including Pokémon and Parke, also helped bring people into stores.

Even so, Target is not suddenly acting like everything is fixed. It raised its 2026 sales outlook, but executives kept the tone measured and said they are still dealing with an uncertain backdrop. The company is investing more in stores, remodels and supply chain upgrades as it tries to rebuild the kind of shopping experience that once made it stand out.

That means more style, more newness and, as Fiddelke put it, a more distinctly Target feel. The strategy seems to be working, at least for now. The bigger question is whether shoppers keep showing up once the novelty wears off.