Target's (TGT) Holiday Preparations Begin, Hiring Takes Off

The holiday extravaganza is a couple of months away and it seems like discount merchandise retailer, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) , is on its toes to make the most of this busiest time of the year.

In a bid to provide world-class shopping experience to customers, the company intends to hire around 100,000 associates in its 1,816 stores across the country. Also, management will employ 4,500 people at its distribution and fulfillment centers in order to refill the stocks to the stores as well as fulfill digital sales.

Hiring events will be organized at all Target stores from Oct 13 through Oct 15, 2017. Candidates may choose to apply for seasonal positions through TargetSeasonalJobs.com prior to the commencement of the hiring event.

There will be open positions for a wide range of services around the company’s stores, distribution as well as fulfillment centers. These services encompass facing customers’ in-stores, handling online orders via Order Pickup and ship-from-store services and well-managed inventory. At the company’s distribution and fulfillment centers, associates are likely to process freight into stores along with fulfilling online orders, with an aim of delivering products to customers at a faster pace.

These associates can avail the benefits such as discount on products, market-competitive wages, and other types of such benefits.

Markedly, holiday season is a crucial time for retailers as it accounts for a sizeable chunk of yearly revenues and profits. Therefore, retailers try to sweep its customers off their feet with early-hour store openings, huge discounts and promotional strategies. Amid the current tepid retail landscape, this season also brings an opportunity for retailers to improve its comparable-store sales by increasing footfall at its stores, and in turn boost overall profitability.

While the holiday season is yet to come, retailers like Target and The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS) have taken initial steps to make this year’s shopping fest a grand success. (Read: Gap Starts the Holiday Bash Early, Seasonal Hiring On)

A Look at Target’s Performance

Target’s initiatives such as the development of omni-channel capacities, diversification and localization of assortments, along with emphasis on flexible format stores have been boding well.

Management also plans to expand its merchandise assortments with special emphasis on Style, Baby, Kids, and Wellness categories that are performing well. Moreover, the company is concentrating on rationalization of supply chain, technology and process improvements.

Consequently, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has rallied 7.3% in the last three months, as against the industry’s decline of 0.2%. Also, the stock boasts a VGM Score of A, with a long-term earnings growth rate of 4.7%, which looks encouraging.

Retail Stocks in the Limelight

Better-ranked stocks in the same industry include Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) and Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) , each holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Burlington Stores, with a long-term earnings growth rate of 16.2%, has delivered positive earnings surprise of 44% in the last quarter.

Ross Stores has a long-term earnings growth rate of 10%. Also, the company’s earnings have outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average of 6.3%.

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