Target Withdraws Q1, 2020 Forecast, Stock Stumbles

Target decided to withdraw its first-quarter and full year forecast

Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) CEO Brian Cornell announced the company will be withdrawing its guidance for the first quarter and fiscal year due to the economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The big-box retailer also delayed plans to remodel hundreds of stores to instead focus on providing food, medicine and other essential items during such uncertain times. TGT is currently down 3.3%, last seen trading at $97.58.

Target has seen a steep decline off last year's late-December all-time highs and is now down 25.5% in 2020. March has been especially difficult for the retail name. The equity has already lost nearly 10% this month alone, with mounting pressure at its 10-day moving average guiding shares lower.

Analysts remain mostly optimistic on TGT. Of the 19 firms in coverage, 12 sport a "strong buy" position. The other seven give the equity a tepid "hold" rating. Aping this sentiment is the consensus 12-month price target of $127.68, which is a 26.97% premium to the stock's current levels.

Meanwhile, put open interest among contracts expiring within three months outweighs call open interest by a much larger-than-usual amount. This is per the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.65, which ranks in the elevated 94th percentile of its annual range.