Target Stock Soars on Blowout Earnings Report

The first quarter of fiscal 2020 was a period of extreme volatility for Target (NYSE: TGT). Sales surged in March as people stocked up in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, slowed dramatically later that month as most of the country went into shutdown mode, and then sales reaccelerated as states began to reopen in the second half of April.

The U.S. battle against COVID-19 has continued to have ups and downs over the past few months. As a result, most investors expected Target's second-quarter performance to be similar in many respects to what it reported three months ago. Instead, the retail giant posted blowout sales and earnings results on Wednesday, sending Target stock up 13% to a new record high.