By Uday Sampath Kumar and Aishwarya Venugopal

(Reuters) – U.S. retailer Target Corp (NYSE 🙂 has posted records holiday quarter earnings Tuesday. The company forecasts a bright 2022 because it believes supply chain pressures will decrease later in the year. Shares rose by 12% in early trading.

Investors will continue to be focused on margins this earnings season. Big retailers are spending big to speed up shipments, and thousands of people to help them navigate through bottlenecks to ensure that shelves remain full.

Brian Cornell, Chief Executive Officer of the company stated that “we see supply chain limitations that are steadily being worked out but will likely require more time…made more uncertain by Ukraine’s invasion by Russia,” during an earnings call.

Target, a Minneapolis company, said that it anticipates higher profits in the second half of this year due to increased sales and new online options.

According to the company, same-day business, which allows shoppers to pick up products in minutes and have them delivered in hours or less, grew 45% by 2021.

Expect increased store traffic from in-store partnership agreements with Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 and Ulta Beauty, as well as a tie-up between Starbucks (NASDAQ 🙂 curbside pickup.

NO SLOWDOWN

Target (NYSE:) and Walmart (NYSE 🙂 witnessed record sales during the pandemic. They are now building on these gains by using their size and negotiation power to gain market share and undercutting smaller competitors.

“The retailers who have been able to mitigate the supply chain issues and all the headwinds have gained an advantage over mom & pop stores,” said Jessica Ramirez, retail analyst at Jane Hali & Associates.

Target anticipates a low-to-mid-single-digit growth of revenue in fiscal 2022, as opposed to estimates that would have seen a 2.18% increase. The adjusted profit is expected to increase by single digits in 2022, exceeding estimates for a slight increase.

The fourth quarter saw sales rise 9.4% to $30.62 trillion. Target posted an adjusted profit per share of $3.19, surpassing estimates of $2.86.