Target Corporation (TGT) Has No Option But To Lower Prices, Says Jim Cramer

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is one of the Jim Cramer Says People Are Getting “Happier” & Discusses These 11 Stocks.

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is a frequent appearance on Cramer’s morning show. He often discusses the firm in the context of other retailers such as Walmart and Costco. However, while Cramer is optimistic about Walmart and Costco’s ability to withstand the inflationary impacts of President Trump’s tariff, he isn’t so confident about Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT). A key point on Cramer’s mind is price. He has asserted multiple times that the firm has to lower its prices and bring them down to pre-COVID levels in order to be competitive. Cramer holds this opinion because Walmart and Costco are able to leverage their scale to provide customers with lower prices and attract foot traffic. Here are his latest thoughts about Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT):

“I think Target has to really start making a statement that we’re going to lower prices. Now they’re going to say they have lower prices. They’re going to have to lower them to 2018. . . in every aisle there has to be two to three items that are 2018. That’s what they have to do.

“They have to get themselves relevant by having a couple of items each aisle that are below, that have to come under Walmart. It can happen.

“The play is to. lower the prices. That’s how they have to do it. They have to.”

In his previous comments about Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Cramer discussed the firm’s business in detail:

“Right but Brian was very upset. Wanted to do much better. Recognizes that frankly that his prices might be too high. Has to discount more. . .look, let’s just call it. It was a bad quarter. Now I know when I pressed him on these DEI issues when there was backlash, he did not say there was. And I just went back and asked about the conference call that they just did with reporters and again, he’s just insisting that it’s not really, it’s not, just not mentioning it as being a factor. I find that, surprising. But David, the problem with Target I think, and I’m gonna come back. . .is scale.

“They did buy back a lot of stock. . . they must have had much more faith than the street. You know they bought back 2.2 million shares at a 114 dollars a share. I would have never done that. Plays down any backlash from DEI. But the most important thing here, Carl, I just find is, this has been a, become a typical thing that Target has become a serial disappointer.

“I am questioning, how well it’s doing. It’s not big enough. They’re not opening a lot of stores, it’s part of urban strategy that seemed just okay. There were issues even, you know, off of George Floyd, but they recovered very quickly. . . .But I think that that’s more, if you might show some others, yeah Walmart’s really good too, TJX is really good too.

“Go look at the prices, when I. . .would walk with Brian through a Target store, I said this is too high, this is too high, this one’s too high. Where is the 2019? How about 2019 prices? I know that right now Walmart’s got some 2019 prices.

“Look, when you put up a chart of Dollar Tree, Dollar General, not Dollar Tree. Dollar General, I think that if Target can really lower price, you can have a kind of a conversion of. . .

“I’ve gone over this with Brian many times. I think everyone loves to go to Target. They’ve got those great brands that are their own. They have to cut price, cut price, cut price. They have no choice. They have to cut price.”

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.