A glut of inventory sank profit at Target Corp. further than it expected, sparking investor concerns about the company’s response to an oversupply problem haunting retailers from Walmart Inc. to the parent of T.J. Maxx.
Target’s net earnings fell 90% and operating margin declined to 1.2% in the quarter ended July 30, the company said in its quarterly earnings report Wednesday. The report, which came after the company forecast in June that operating margin would shrink to roughly 2%, provided a new tally of the rising cost of the retailer’s effort to swiftly unload unwanted products.
