Target Rolls Out ChatGPT Hype to Mask Ugly Earnings… Wall Street Fires Up the Short Cannon

If you want proof Target is fighting for its life… my wife, who used to treat Target like a pilgrimage, has practically moved into Walmart this year and has visited Target a single time… and only because it was close to a Chick-fil-A.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that, for the fourth-ish quarter in a row, Target served up another fresh platter of “Yeah, things still suck,” paired with a newly lowered profit outlook and a holiday forecast that does not sound so merry and bright. Naturally, the market said, “Great, thanks,” and sent the stock lower again. 

The problem is Target keeps telling analysts that shoppers are “choiceful.” which is the most Target way possible to say, “Walmart is beating our tail in broad daylight.”

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

And it’s not like Target didn’t see this coming. They’ve been whispering warnings for a year, and somehow things still managed to trend downward.

Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke swears there’s still a path to win “regardless of the macro.” Which is adorable, considering he also plans to drop $5 billion next year fixing up stores. A ballsy move for a company whose shoppers have decided Target is where they grab shampoo, not where they browse for “elevated lifestyle pieces.” It’s like repainting your living room while the roof is leaking… admirable, but maybe not the main issue.

Wall Street was not inspired. Analysts reacted with a polite shrug, and Bank of America openly roasted them. They pointed out that Target’s digital ads might as well be written on Post-it Notes, its marketplace is microscopic compared to Amazon and Walmart, tariffs are kicking them in the shins, and competition is circling like a shark that smells blood.

Of course, they tried to soften the blow with their new announcement you can now shop Target through ChatGPT. Cool feature. Fun gimmick. Absolutely not the reason anyone stopped going to Target. Nobody said, “I’d buy Christmas ornaments, but only if an AI assistant recommends them.”

(Source: Axios)

Meanwhile, Target is trying absolutely everything. They cut 1,800 corporate jobs. They’re using AI to predict fashion trends. They sent their designers to rodeos for inspiration. They dropped 20,000 new holiday items, lowered prices on 3,000 essentials, and even launched a new Starbucks holiday drink to bribe people into visiting.

But shoppers aren’t falling for the theatrics anymore. The data already gave Target the answer key: people bought Halloween candy but left the decorations on the shelf. Gomez says the same story is coming for the holidays… shoppers will buy gifts but skip the extras. Or in his words, they’ll focus on what goes under the tree, not on it… which is the nicest way possible to say, “Do not expect anyone to buy garland this year.”

And here we are. Target’s stock has been cut down 67% since 2021, another 35% this year, same-store sales won’t stop sliding, and the company is stuck duking it out with inflation, tariffs, Amazon, Walmart, broke shoppers, a marketplace that’s still training wheels-level tiny, and four straight years of flat sales. Target says it can win anyway. Wall Street says, “Buddy… no.”

And honestly, this is why betting big on a single stock is dangerous. Back in COVID, if you told me Walmart would steal Target’s customers and Target would be begging AI to help… I’d have laughed. But here we are.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.