“More than $0.5 billion in cost savings from our ongoing efficiency efforts, giving us a fast start on our multiyear efficiency goals and realistic expectations for additional improvement in our operating margin rate this year as we move towards our 6% goal.”

In context

“eady to take your questions, I might get started with some of the questions I can imagine are on your mind this morning. First, are the updates we shared enough to get Target back to growth? The answer is absolutely. We're confident that the road map we've outlined today puts our core strengths, capabilities and points of difference to work in new ways with even greater value, relevance, ease for our current guests and U.S. consumers more broadly. This road map will help us meet consumers where they are to drive traffic, profitable sales growth, and long-term market share gains. Another question might be, can Target keep building on the profit improvement you put up last year. You just heard it for Michael, nearly $2 billion in 2023 of operating income growth, far outpacing our guidance. More than $0.5 billion in cost savings from our ongoing efficiency efforts, giving us a fast start on our multiyear efficiency goals and realistic expectations for additional improvement in our operating margin rate this year as we move towards our 6% goal. Ultimately, I'm sure you're asking, what does this mean for shareholders over time? And that brings us back to our emphasis on long-term horizons and the durability of our business model. Again, you heard it from Michael. From 2013 to 2023, revenue grew by almost 50%, while earnings per share and the annual dividend more than doubled. The progress we made last year in shifting the momentum of our business, defining our road map for growth and improving our profit performance has set us up to resume share repurchase, potentially later this year. We know that's been an important source of shareholder returns over time. But since most of you know our capital priorities as well as we do at this point, I'm guessing you noticed that I'm ending with the priority that's been on top of the list f”