Slaughter on Wall Street

Among the names in the news, retail giant Target (TGT Quote) posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.12 billion, or $1.29 a share, compared with earnings of $939 million, or $1.06 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Results beat the Thomson First Call average estimate by 2 cents. However, Target dropped $3.15, or 5%, to $59.40.

Elsewhere, a day after prospective merger partner XM Satellite Radio (XMSR Quote) posted its results, Sirius (SIRI Quote) reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and stronger-than-forecast revenue. The company also said fiscal 2007 revenue should approach $1 billion. Sirius was off by 9 cents, or 2.4%, to finish at $3.65.

Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV Quote) guided above consensus estimates, something of a rarity these days for the publicly traded companies in the sector. Still, Hovnanian slid 83 cents, or 2.5%, at $32.

Turning to the research calls, UBS upgraded General Electric (GE Quote) to buy from neutral, and JPMorgan downgraded NYSE Group (NYX Quote) to underweight from neutral.

GE fell by 68 cents, or 1.9%, to end at $34.66. The NYSE Group lost $5.56, or 6.2%, to $84.45.