Raphael Stevens

Target CEO Brian Cornell said there’s no room for price gouging in the competitive retail landscape.
Cornell was asked whether the tactic boosted Target’s profits, after Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris outlined a plan to stop price gouging.
He spoke to CNBC after Target beat quarterly earnings expectations.

There’s no room for price gouging in a ultra-competitive business like retail, Target CEO Brian Cornell said on Wednesday.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” the retail chief disputed campaign talking points accusing grocers of inflating prices. He said retailers have to be responsive to customers or risk losing business.

He was asked by CNBC’s Joe Kernen, who referred to comments by Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and asked if Target or its competitors ever benefit from price gouging. Harris last week proposed the first-ever federal ban on “corporate price-gouging in the food and grocery industries,” saying some companies are charging excessively and fueling household inflation.
“We’re in a penny business,” Cornell responded, noting the small profit margins in the retail industry. He described the many places that customers can turn to check for lower prices or to find merchandise elsewhere, from going to stores to browsing on their phones to compare the prices of a gallon of milk at different retailers.
Target’s retail chief made the comments after the discounter beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue on Wednesday, but struck a cautious note with its full-year guidance. It said it expects comparable sales, which take out the impact of store openings and closures, to be on the lower side of its range of flat to up 2%. Yet it raised its profit guidance, saying it expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $9 to $9.70, up from the previous outlook of $8.60 and $9.60.
Inflation and consumers’ outrage about high prices has continued to loom large for companies like Target. A wide range of retailers, including Home Depot, Walmart and Macy’s, have reported over the past two weeks that cautious consumers are being picky about where they’re spending.
Cornell said on “Squawk Box” that the retailer is trying to appeal to “a consumer who is managing their budget carefully” and said “value is in our DNA.”

Target is one of the consumer brands that has responded to shoppers’ concerns by lowering prices. It cut prices on about 5,000 everyday items, such as diapers and peanut butter, to try to drive higher traffic and sales. Others, such as McDonald’s, have debuted value meals.
So far, those discounts have shown signs of resonating at Target: In the quarter, customer traffic across Target’s stores and website rose 3% — even as shoppers put a little less in their shopping carts than they did a year ago.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last week that prices have come down in many merchandise categories, but said that inflation “has been more stubborn” in the aisles that carry dry groceries and processed foods.
On an earnings call with investors, he said some brands “are still talking about cost increases, and we’re fighting back on that aggressively because we think prices need to come down.” More

Vehicle production at the new plant in Tennessee was initially expected to begin next year.
The company said it still expects to begin battery cell production at the site in 2025.
Ford CFO John Lawler said the shifts are meant to better deliver a capital-efficient, profitable electric vehicle business.

DETROIT – Ford Motor is delaying production of a new plant in Tennessee to produce a next-generation all-electric pickup truck and canceling plans for a three-row electric SUV, the company said Wednesday.
Instead, Ford said it will prioritize the development of hybrid models, as well as electric commercial vehicles such as a new electric commercial van in 2026, followed by two EV pickup trucks in 2027.

The pickups are expected to be a full-size truck, which will be produced at the Tennessee plant that’s currently under construction in 2027, and a new midsize pickup.
The actions are meant to better deliver a capital-efficient, profitable electric vehicle business, said Ford CFO John Lawler. But, in the short-term, they will cost the company.
Ford said it will incur a special non-cash charge of about $400 million for the write-down of certain product-specific manufacturing assets, including the cancellation of the three-row SUV.
The company said the changes may also result in additional expenses and cash expenditures of up to $1.5 billion. Ford will reflect those in the quarter in which they are incurred, as a special item.
Vehicle production at the new $5.6 billion Tennessee site was initially expected to begin next year. The company said it still expects to begin battery cell production at the site in 2025.

The changes are the latest for Ford amid slower-than-expected adoption of EVs as well as automakers not being able to profitably produce the vehicles.
The new plans come roughly five months after Ford said it would delay production of the three-row SUV and next-generation pickup, codenamed “T3.”
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Macy’s beat quarterly earnings expectations but it cut its sales forecast for the full year.
The company is trying to turn around its business as it closes about 150 namesake stores.
Beauty brand Bluemercury was once again Macy’s best performing segment.

Macy’s logo is seen on a store in Manhattan, New York, United States of America, on July 5th, 2024. 
Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Macy’s cut its full-year sales forecast Wednesday, as the department store operator said it is contending with selective shoppers and more promotions.
The retailer posted a mixed quarter, as it topped Wall Street’s earnings expectations but missed on revenue.

Macy’s said it now anticipates net sales of between $22.1 billion and $22.4 billion, which is lower than the $22.3 billion to $22.9 billion range it had previously anticipated. That also would be a year-over-year decline from the $23.09 billion it reported in fiscal 2023.
Macy’s expects comparable sales, which take out the impact of store openings and closures, to range from a decrease of about 2% to a decline of about 0.5%. It had previously expected comparable sales to range from a decline of about 1% to a gain of 1.5%. That metric includes owned and licensed sales, which encompasses merchandise that Macy’s owns and items from brands that pay for space within its stores, along with Macy’s third-party online marketplace.
The department store operator said in a news release that the new outlook range “gives the flexibility to address the ongoing uncertainty in the discretionary consumer market.”
In an interview with CNBC, CEO Tony Spring said customers aren’t spending as freely across all of Macy’s brands — even higher-end department store Bloomingdale’s.
“We see that there is definitely a softness, a carefulness, a delay in the conversion of purchasing,” he said. “And people on the things that they want, the things that are priced sharply, on the newness, they’re responding, but even the affluent consumer is not spending like they were a year ago.”

He said “there’s a lot of noise out there,” which is distracting customers or causing them to hold off on spending, including higher interest rates, inconsistent weather patterns and a busy news cycle.
Here’s what Macy’s reported for the fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 53 cents adjusted vs. 30 cents expected
Revenue: $4.94 billion vs. $5.12 billion expected

Shares fell about 8% in premarket trading.
The iconic department store is pushing to get back to steadier footing and sustained growth. Spring announced in February that the retailer would shutter about 150 – or nearly a third – of its namesake stores and invest in the roughly 350 locations that remain. It plans to close the locations by early 2027. 
It is also opening new, smaller Macy’s stores in suburban strip malls and adding new locations of its better-performing brands, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury.
Yet Macy’s results in the recent quarter revealed its struggles to pull off that comeback at a time when consumers have been pickier about purchases – especially items that are wants rather than needs. 
Net sales fell from $5.13 billion in the year-ago period.
The namesake Macy’s brand continued to be the company’s weakest performer. Comparable sales fell 3.6% on an owned-plus-licensed basis, including the third-party marketplace. 
At Bloomingdale’s, comparable sales declined 1.4% on an owned-plus-licensed basis, including the third-party marketplace. And Bluemercury comparable sales rose 2%, marking the 14th consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth for the beauty brand.
In the three-month period that ended Aug. 3, Macy’s net income was $150 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with a loss of $22 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Yet even when excluding the weaker stores that Macy’s is shutting, sales were lackluster. Comparable sales for its go-forward namesake brand – which includes the Macy’s stores that will remain open and online sales – declined 3.3% on an owned-plus-licensed basis, including the third-party marketplace. 
Macy’s stressed it has made progress in its turnaround plan, which it unveiled in February soon after Spring stepped into the company’s top role. At the first 50 of its stores to get additional investment, comparable sales were up 1% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. It marked the second consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales at those stores since the plan started.
Spring said those 50 stores have outperformed Macy’s other locations, even in hard-hit categories like handbags. He said the company will share its plans for expanding the strategy beyond those stores in the fourth quarter, but it’s already decided it will bulk up staffing in the women’s shoes and handbags departments at more of its locations because of the customer response.
Along with a choppy sales environment, Macy’s leaders had also faced a bid by an activist group to take the company private. Macy’s said last month that its board had unanimously decided to end negotiations with Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital.
Shares of Macy’s closed on Tuesday at $17.74, bringing the company’s market cap to $4.9 billion. As of Tuesday’s close, the company’s stock is down about 12% so far this year. That trails behind the approximately 17% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period.
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TJX Companies beat Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines as it raised its full-year guidance.
The retailer behind HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Marshall has been taking market share from competitors like Target and Macy’s and has become a haven for price-sensitive consumers.
The company has been looking to continue its growth and announced it’s taken a stake in a Dubai-based discounter.

A Marshalls and HomeGoods store entrance in Miami, Florida. 
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

TJX Companies raised its full-year guidance on Wednesday after posting another quarter of strong sales, but its outlook still fell just short of Wall Street’s expectations.
The discounter behind Marshalls, HomeGoods and TJ Maxx is now expecting full-year earnings to be between $4.09 and $4.13, compared with estimates of $4.14, according to LSEG.

For the current quarter, TJX is expecting earnings per share to be between $1.06 and $1.08, compared with estimates of $1.10.
So far this earnings season, retailers that disappoint with guidance haven’t seen much negative impact to their shares, suggesting investors are prepared for uncertainty in the second half of the year ahead of the U.S. presidential election and a potential rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Shares of TJX rose about 4% in premarket trading.
Here’s how the discounter did compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 96 cents vs.92 cents expected
Revenue: $13.47 billion vs. $13.31 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended August 3 was $1.1 billion, or 96 cents per share, compared with $989 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $13.47 billion, up from $12.76 billion a year earlier.

Throughout TJX’s fiscal 2024 year, which ended in February, the company posted strong sales gains and robust guidance, but investors have been keen to see how it will lap those numbers in the quarters ahead and if it can keep growing.
The company has looked abroad as a primary growth avenue and on Wednesday, it announced that it was taking 35% ownership stake in the Dubai-based retailer Brands for Less for $360 million. The privately-held brand is the region’s only major off-price player and operates more than 100 stores, primarily in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, along with an e-commerce business, TJX said in a news release.
“As TJX seeks to continue its global growth, this transaction gives the Company an opportunity to invest in an established, off-price retailer with significant growth potential,” TJX said. “The Company’s ownership in BFL is expected to be slightly accretive to earnings per share beginning in Fiscal 2026.”
During the quarter, consolidated comparable store sales increased by 4% and were “entirely driven by an increase in customer transactions,” indicating more shoppers are coming to its stores, TJX said. That jump is ahead of the 2.8% uptick that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
The growth was primarily driven by TJX’s Marmaxx division in the U.S., which includes TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Sierra stores. During the quarter, Marmaxx comparable sales were up 5%, compared with estimates of up 2.9%, according to StreetAccount. HomeGoods posted comparable sales up 2% — short of the 3% that analysts had been looking for, according to StreetAccount — as the overall home furnishings market remains stagnant.
In the current quarter, performance is already “off to a strong start,” said CEO Ernie Herrman.
“We see excellent buying opportunities in the marketplace and are strongly positioned to ship fresh and compelling merchandise to our stores and online throughout the fall and holiday selling seasons. We marked a milestone for our Company in the second quarter by opening our 5,000th store,” said Herrman. “Longer term, we are excited about our potential to capture additional market share in all of our geographies and to continue our global growth”
As of Tuesday’s close, TJX’s stock is up about about 21% year to date. Shares reached a new high in May after the company reported strong quarterly earnings.
The retailer has been taking market share from competitors like Target and Macy’s and has become a haven for price-sensitive consumers who may be watching their dollars but still want to spring for new clothes.
In May, Herrman said the company is winning in part because it’s “become a cooler place to shop” and has made inroads with younger Gen Z customers, who tend to be more concerned with snagging good, high-quality deals than shopping at high-end names.
Some analysts say the nature of TJX’s business model means it does well in any economic environment. In good times, its core lower- to middle-income consumer has the extra cash to buy discretionary items like new clothes, shoes and home decor and in bad times, higher income shoppers come to its stores looking for deals on the branded clothes they’re accustomed to.
However, a sharp downturn in consumer spending, which some analysts have warned could be ahead, could impact the company regardless of its value offering. More

Target beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations on Wednesday.
Sales at the discounter grew as shoppers made more visits to Target’s stores and website and bought more discretionary items like clothing.
Yet, the retailer struck a cautious note, saying it expects comparable sales for the full year to be in the lower range of its guidance.

A Target store stands in Manhattan, New York City, on March 5, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Target said Wednesday that sales grew about 3% in its fiscal second quarter, a return to growth after a prolonged stretch of sluggish sales and squeezed profits.
The discounter beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations, as shoppers made more visits to Target’s stores and website, and bought more discretionary items like clothing.

Even so, the company stuck by its previous full-year sales forecast and struck a cautious note. Target said it expects comparable sales for the full year to range from flat to up 2%, but said it now expects the increase will likely be in the lower half of the range. 
Target raised its profit guidance, however, saying it expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $9 to $9.70, up from the previous range of $8.60 and $9.60.
The company’s shares rose more than 10% in premarket trading as Target showed improvement in generating profits.
On a call with reporters, Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke said Target took a “measured approach” with its outlook because it’s hard to predict consumers’ mindsets and the state of the economy in the coming months.
“While we’ve been pleased with our performance so far this year, and our view of the consumer remains largely the same, the range of possibilities and the macroeconomic backdrop in consumer data and in our business remains unusually high,” he said.

Here’s what Target reported for the three-month period that ended Aug. 3 compared with what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $2.57 vs. $2.18 expected
Revenue: $25.45 billion vs. $25.21 billion expected

Target, known for its wide array of trendy but low-priced merchandise, has been hurt as consumers buy fewer items like new outfits or home decor while they pay more for everyday expenses like food and housing. The big-box retailer has also struggled with reduced profits in recent quarters, as customers purchased items like groceries that tend to be lower margin, and losses from damaged inventory and theft, including organized retail crime, took a toll.
Those trends improved in the second quarter, as Target attracted shoppers with new merchandise and reduced prices.
Target’s net income jumped to $1.19 billion, or $2.57 per share, from $835 million, or $1.80 per share, in the year-ago quarter. That’s a more than 40% year-over-year increase.
Total revenue rose from $24.77 billion in the prior year.
Comparable sales climbed 2% in the quarter, the first time in five quarters that Target posted a gain. The industry metric tracks sales online and at stores open at least 13 months.
Digital sales drove most of those gains, growing 8.7% in the quarter, as more customers used same-day services like curbside pickup and home delivery. Comparable store sales rose slightly, up 0.7%.
Target has tried to rev up sales and drive higher foot traffic by deepening loyalty and offering discounts. The company relaunched its loyalty program early this year and introduced a new paid membership, Target Circle 360, that includes perks like free same-day deliveries. Target threw its own sales event in July to compete with Amazon’s Prime Day. And it announced in May that it would cut prices on about 5,000 frequently bought items, including diapers, milk and paper towels. 
CEO Brian Cornell said customers have responded well to the price reductions and credited them for contributing to traffic growth in the quarter. 
Customer traffic across Target’s website and store grew 3% in the second quarter compared with the year-ago period. The average size of customers’ shopping baskets, however, declined slightly, Fiddelke said.
Discretionary sales, which have been under pressure across the retail industry, improved. Target said apparel sales, for instance, grew more than 3% in the quarter compared with the year-ago period. 
Back-to-school has also been an important season for the retailer. Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez said on the call with reporters that the shopping season has matched Target’s expectations, as many customers gravitate toward items with good value like backpacks that cost $5 and crayons that cost 25 cents. 
He said back-to-college shopping tends to be a longer season, as students gradually decorate their apartments and dorms.
Shares of Target closed Tuesday at $143.21. As of Tuesday’s close, the company’s stock is up about 1% so far this year. That’s trailed behind the S&P 500’s approximately 17% gains during the same period.

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Health-care marketplace Sesame announced a new clinical weight loss program that will help eligible consumers access compounded versions of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy for $249 per month.
The company said it is adding compounded semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy and the diabetes injection Ozempic — to its platform to help users safely access obesity and diabetes treatments at a time when many of them are in short supply.
The program could serve as a more affordable alternative for pursuing weight loss, as compounded medications are typically cheaper than their branded counterparts.

Cr | Istock | Getty Images

Health-care marketplace Sesame on Wednesday announced a new clinical weight loss program that will help eligible consumers access compounded versions of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy for $249 per month.
Sesame allows patients to book and pay for appointments with doctors and specialists directly through its website, so it cuts out middlemen such as insurers.

The company said it is adding compounded semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy and Novo Nordisk’s diabetes injection Ozempic — to its platform to help users safely access obesity and diabetes treatments at a time when many of the branded drugs are in short supply. Sesame already offers branded weight loss and diabetes drugs through its platform, including through a partnership with Costco. 
But the company’s new program could serve as a more affordable weight loss alternative, as compounded medications are typically cheaper than their branded counterparts. Wegovy and Ozempic both cost roughly $1,000 per month before insurance, and most weight loss programs from competing digital health companies do not include the cost of those medications. 
“We are, based on this drug supply shortage, on behalf of American consumers, making a version of compounded semaglutide available to our users at … [a] very accessible price point,” Michael Botta, president and co-founder of Sesame, told CNBC in an interview. “In fact, we think it’s probably the most affordable price point the consumer can find on an apples to apples basis.”
Wegovy and Ozempic are part of a highly popular class of weight loss and diabetes medications called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down a patient’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. The treatments have exploded in popularity in recent years, and some analysts predict the industry could generate more than $100 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
Supply shortages are one of the biggest hurdles for Novo Nordisk and its main rival, Eli Lilly, since spiking demand can make it difficult for many patients to find the treatments. When brand-name GLP-1 medications are in shortage, certain manufacturers can prepare compounded versions if they meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements.

The lowest dose of Wegovy is in short supply, but all other doses of the drug and Ozempic are available, according to the FDA’s drug shortage database. 
Compounded medications are custom-made alternatives to branded drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs, such as not being able to swallow a pill or being allergic to the dye of a certain product. Those compounded drugs can be prescribed, made and dispensed under two sections of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 
That law created two classes of compounding pharmacies. The FDA regulates so-called 503B pharmacies, which can make larger batches of medications without individual prescriptions. Meanwhile, 503A compounding pharmacies can create custom medications for individual patients and are largely regulated by states rather than the FDA. 
But both Wegovy and Ozempic are under patent protection in the U.S. and abroad, and Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly do not supply the active ingredients in their drugs to outside groups. The companies say that raises questions about what some manufacturers are selling and marketing to consumers.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have both stepped in to address illicit versions of their treatments, suing weight loss clinics, medical spas and compounding pharmacies across the U.S. over the past year. The FDA last month also said it had received reports of patients overdosing on compounded semaglutide due to dosing errors such as patients self-administering incorrect amounts of a treatment. 
Botta said Sesame initially “stayed very far away” from compounded medications because the company felt uncertain about their purity and quality. But he said the more Sesame learned about compounded versions of GLP-1s, the “more we see that they’re effective, they seem to be quite safe. People tend to have a good experience taking them.” 
Sesame then sent its teams to inspect several 503B compounding pharmacies. 
“What we decided to do was work with a compounding pharmacy that certainly meets our bar when it comes to inspecting their processes, their quality, their output,” Botta said. 
The compounding pharmacy partnered with Sesame will manufacture prefilled, single-use syringes rather than a single vial of medicine that patients have to measure themselves. Botta said that could help patients “avoid the risk that comes from overfilling a syringe, over-injecting, taking too much — overdosing on this medication.” 
To participate in Sesame’s new program, patients will have to fill out an intake form and select a health-care provider. They will have a consultation with the provider via video, complete some lab work and receive a prescription if the provider decides it is appropriate. 
Patients will be able to access ongoing consultations via video chat, as well as a nutrition, fitness and mindfulness content library. The content will not be immediately available upon the launch of the new program Wednesday, but Sesame said it will be live in about two weeks. 
Anyone who signs up in the interim will automatically get access to it when it is available, the company added. 
“There are millions upon millions of Americans who are struggling both with obesity itself and with all of the downstream effects of obesity,” Botta said. “Being able to connect patients who otherwise are struggling with the supply shortage is something we think is worth doing.”

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