Barron's Misses the Mark on Target

Give the business media a suitable amount of space and they can sometimes hit their target. But when they summarize an earnings report in a more limited amount of room, they often miss. Big time.

Let's review.

The basic gist on Target(TGT Quote - Cramer on TGT - Stock Picks), the upscale-downscale retailer, which reported yesterday, stands at this: Considering the economic climate, the company actually did all right, or at least kind of flattish -- once you realize that a good deal of its apparent trouble came from their credit card division.

The credit card division, of course, can't be magically discounted as a factor, and there is obviously some interconnectedness between the store and the credit card division. But if you realize that in no uncertain terms income from credit cards was down something on the order of $150 million, guess what?

You'll know that a good level of Target's trouble came from struggling customers who aren't paying off their cards, which is not good -- but it's a whole lot better than more-substantive trouble in merchandising. In fact, that the credit card trouble detracted from earnings means that the profitability of Target's merchandising (a more lasting and important variable) is better than indicated.

In most of the longer-form writing on Target yesterday, the business media made this relatively clear to investors. But in the shorter summary articles, it was lost to the wind. With less space, the business media can't be expected to catalog every important detail. But this was a biggie. It's important for the savvy investor to realize that when it comes to shorter-form work by the business media, reader beware.

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