Markets
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Helena Cheng

Target sinks on expense concerns despite Q1 earnings beat

Target shares are sinking in volatile early Wednesday trading, erasing its premarket gains as investor anxiety over rising corporate overhead and tightening profit margins appeared to overawe strong Q1 earnings results that beat Wall Street estimates.

Key numbers:

  • Revenue of $25.44 billion (estimate: $24.11 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $1.71 (estimate: $1.43).

  • Same-store sales growth of 5.6% (estimate: 1.85%).

Target’s headline numbers signaled a clear, if partial, comeback story with 6.7% net sales growth, breaking a yearlong slump. The company also raised its full-year sales growth forecast to 4.0% compared with 2025, double its previous forecast of 2% growth. The company now projects annual EPS to land at the high end of its $7.50 to $8.50 range, beating the $8.10 consensus estimate from Wall Street.

However, Target’s operational expenses climbed to 21.9% of its total revenue last quarter, up from last year, with the company citing “higher compensation costs” and “higher marketing expense” to explain the jump. These rising costs were only partially offset by the boost from Target’s strong sales growth.

“While we have momentum, we’re also being cautious about the near-term operating environment,” said Michael Fiddelke, CEO of Target. “With consumers weighing multiple headwinds and tailwinds, and recent dips in consumer sentiment, we continue to place a premium on flexibility, not wanting to swing too hard too quickly, despite the early signs of momentum we’re seeing.”

This is the first earnings report under the newly appointed CEO, who officially took the helm in February and who’s focused on enhancing operational efficiency amid a prolonged retail sales slump.

Target yesterday announced that it tapped former Walmart exec Jeff England as chief supply chain officer to optimize inventory and delivery, part of a wider $6 billion turnaround. The retailer is also overhauling its beauty, baby, and apparel categories through exclusive Parke and “Pokémon” partnerships, though margins remain sensitive to inventory markdowns and labor costs.

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Jake Lahut

Applied Digital inks new $7.5 billion lease with hyperscaler it first booked in April

Applied Digital saw its price soar after hours on news of a long-term lease agreement with the same “investment-grade” hyperscaler it struck a similar deal with in April.

The additional lease for 15 years in a take-or-pay arrangement is valued at $7.5 billion, and could rise to $18.2 billion if all options are exercised, according to the company's announcement.

This latest contract would bring Applied Digital's total contracted lease revenue to $31 billion, or $73 billion if all options are taken up.

The company also crowed about passing 1 GW of contracted capacity as it lands a customer for its fourth AI factory campus. The customer in question is not named, nor the exact location, just that the campus is “located in a northern state.”

Applied Digital Reaches Significant Milestone, Surpassing 1 GW of Contracted Capacity with U.S. Based High Investment-Grade Hyperscaler Lease at Fourth Campus, Polaris Forge 3

The additional lease for 15 years in a take-or-pay arrangement is valued at $7.5 billion, and could rise to $18.2 billion if all options are exercised, according to the company's announcement.

This latest contract would bring Applied Digital's total contracted lease revenue to $31 billion, or $73 billion if all options are taken up.

The company also crowed about passing 1 GW of contracted capacity as it lands a customer for its fourth AI factory campus. The customer in question is not named, nor the exact location, just that the campus is “located in a northern state.”

markets
Paige Oamek

Intuit plummets after reporting slowing revenue growth

Is it a worse day to be an Intuit employee or an Intuit shareholder?

On Wednesday, the financial and business tech company announced third-quarter earnings and sweeping layoffs on the same day. The TurboTax parent company said it would cut 17% of its workers — approximately 3,000 people — to focus on its AI efforts, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.

The stock was down 3.8% during market hours. It dropped further when Intuit released third-quarter results after the bell showing the slowest year-over-year revenue growth since 2024, falling 10% after-hours.

Here are the numbers:

  • Q3 revenue of $8.56 billion (compared to analyst estimates of $8.54 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $12.80 (estimate: $12.54).

  • Raised full-year guidance for revenue of $21.34 billion to $21.37 billion (estimate: $21.24 billion).

“We delivered strong third-quarter results, driven by our AI-driven expert platform strategy,” said Sasan Goodarzi, chairman and CEO of Intuit. “As a result, we are raising our full-year revenue guidance for fiscal 2026.”

Shares of Intuit are down nearly 40% this year.

Intuit Reports Strong Third-Quarter Results and Raises Full-Year Revenue Guidance

On Wednesday, the financial and business tech company announced third-quarter earnings and sweeping layoffs on the same day. The TurboTax parent company said it would cut 17% of its workers — approximately 3,000 people — to focus on its AI efforts, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.

The stock was down 3.8% during market hours. It dropped further when Intuit released third-quarter results after the bell showing the slowest year-over-year revenue growth since 2024, falling 10% after-hours.

Here are the numbers:

  • Q3 revenue of $8.56 billion (compared to analyst estimates of $8.54 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $12.80 (estimate: $12.54).

  • Raised full-year guidance for revenue of $21.34 billion to $21.37 billion (estimate: $21.24 billion).

“We delivered strong third-quarter results, driven by our AI-driven expert platform strategy,” said Sasan Goodarzi, chairman and CEO of Intuit. “As a result, we are raising our full-year revenue guidance for fiscal 2026.”

Shares of Intuit are down nearly 40% this year.

Luke Kawa
3h
Nvidia delivers another sales and earnings beat in Q1, with strong Q2 revenue guidance

Shareholder returns are going up too!

Jensen Huang with Grace Blackwell chips
Tasha Matsumoto
3h
Stocks climb as bond yields and oil prices fall

All eyes are on tonight’s Q1 2027 earnings from the world’s largest company.

Group of bulls being herded
markets
Paige Oamek & Luke Kawa

T1 Energy spikes on record call volumes after Roth analyst calls short report a buying opportunity

Shares of T1 Energy are electric Wednesday afternoon, soaring more than 20% on record call volumes.

The stock had fallen over 13% at its lows on Tuesday after short-only fund Fuzzy Panda Research published a report calling the solar and battery storage company a “China Hustle” rather than a legitimate AI infrastructure investment, also alleging that the company has booked tax credits it won’t receive.

Retail traders have often used the dip that’s followed the announcement of a short report to load up on a company’s shares (see: POET Technologies in April).

Roth Capital Partners analyst Philip Shen responded to the report by calling T1 “a model for what the Trump administration may want in a domestic manufacturer that is transferring advanced technology and capacity to the US,” suggesting that the sell-off was a buying opportunity.

Earlier this week, T1 got an even more prominent vote of confidence when a 13F filing from Situational Awareness showed the hedge fund run by wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner held a 3.6% stake in the company at the end of Q1.

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