Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript August 21, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

John Hulbert - VP, IR
Brian Cornell - Chair and CEO
Rick Gomez - CCO
Michael Fiddelke - COO and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Kate McShane - Goldman Sachs
Rupesh Parikh - Oppenheimer
Chris Horvers - JPMorgan
Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley
Robby Ohmes - Bank of America
Ed Kelly - Wells Fargo
Corey Tarlowe - Jefferies

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Target Corporation Second Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will invite you to participate in a question-and-answer session. At the close of prepared remarks, we will open the queue for the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, August 21, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. John Hulbert, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

John Hulbert

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. On the line with me today are Brian Cornell, Chair and Chief Executive Officer; Rick Gomez, Chief Commercial Officer; and Michael Fiddelke, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. In a few moments, Brian, Rick, and Michael will provide their insights on our second quarter performance along with our outlook and priorities for the third quarter and remainder of the year. Following their remarks, we'll open the phone lines for a question-and-answer session.

This morning, we're joined on this conference call by investors and others who will be listening to our comments via webcast. Following the call, Michael and I will be available to answer your follow-up questions. And finally, as a reminder, any forward-looking statements that we make this morning are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in this morning's earnings press release and in our most recently filed 10-K. Also, in these remarks, we refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings per share. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP numbers to the most directly comparable GAAP number are included in this morning's press release, which is posted on our investor relations website.

With that, I'll turn it over to Brian for his thoughts on the second quarter and his priorities for the third quarter and beyond. Brian?

Brian Cornell

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to start my remarks today by welcoming Rick Gomez to this call, following his recent move into the role of Chief Commercial Officer. This change was one of several we announced in June, including Christina Hennington's move into the role of Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, and Lisa Roath's transition into the role of Chief Merchandising Officer of Food, Essentials, and Beauty. Lisa has done a fantastic job leading our marketing team, and I've asked her to remain in that role until early 2025. This will provide adequate time for us to complete an external search for her successor, before Lisa brings her impressive commercial leadership experience back into the merchandising team. These changes follow our January announcement that Michael would move into the pivotal role of our Chief Operating Officer. Michael took on the CFO role just before the pandemic, and he's done an outstanding job leading the company through a period of unprecedented growth and volatility. The search for Michael's replacement as CFO is ongoing, and I share Michael's excitement for the time when he's able to fully focus on his new role leading all of our operational functions. And, of course, we were pleased this month to welcome Amy Tu into the role of Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. During her career, Amy has served in key leadership roles for several Fortune 100 companies, and I'm excited to welcome her to the Target team. Amy is taking the place of Don Liu on our team as he prepares for his retirement. I want to pause and thank Don for his many years of thoughtful and conscientious service to Target and our stakeholders. He is an outstanding leader who has served as a trusted partner to me, to our Board, and our entire leadership team during his tenure here at Target. All of these changes in our team are just the latest evidence of our focus on developing enterprise leaders, ones who go well beyond subject matter expertise to develop strong leadership skills with a foundation based on a comprehensive understanding of our business and how we fit into the broader landscape.