S&P cuts Target outlook to negative

Standard & Poor's said it revised its outlook on Target Corp. to negative from stable.

Concurrently, the agency said it affirmed all ratings on the company, including the A+ corporate credit and A-1 short-term ratings.

"The outlook revision reflects the underperformance of Target's credit card and discount store operations in the fourth quarter of 2008," said S&P credit analyst Diane Shand, "and its expectation that these businesses will remain challenged by the recession in the U.S."

The credit card business's EBIT was down significantly in 2008 as a result of materially higher bad debt expense, the agency said.

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