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Target (TGT) shares plunge over 20% after the retail giant announced earnings results that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. R5 Capital founder and CEO Scott Mushkin joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton to discuss why Target's results told a different story than Walmart's (WMT) earnings beat.
"Walmart's done an excellent job. There's no doubt about it. Walmart+ membership, getting it to your house very quickly. The other big advantage Walmart has is their produce [and] their fresh food business. And they've actually improved that business [and] the execution there a lot. And, of course, Target has that. But it's not a destination for [fresh food]. So you know Walmart's got some individual things."
"We've been negative [about] Walmart before; it's been our No. 1 pick for the last two or three years. But to see the transformation Walmart's done, and it's certainly on merchandising," he adds.
"This is a Target problem. I know they blamed the economy and the sluggish consumer, and certainly, certain categories that they are fairly big in are having issues, like home apparel, to a degree. But if we look at our research and take a step back ... We've definitely seen execution at Target become much more inconsistent," Mushkin says. Target is good at marketing, branding, social media, and fashion, but its shortcomings in execution create "a pretty big disconnect" between "what's going on in the physical stores and what's going on with the rest of the company, and we think that's a sizable issue for Target."
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This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.