Target profit falls but beats Wall Street view

Target Corporation shareholders leave the annual shareholders meeting at a new Target store in Waukesha, Wisconsin in this May 28, 2009 file photo.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Target Corp (TGT.N) reported its eighth consecutive drop in quarterly profit, but the results were better than Wall Street had expected as the No 2 U.S. discount retailer cut costs and stocked less merchandise.

Target said profit was $594 million, or 79 cents per share, for its second quarter ended August 1, compared with $634 million, or 82 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 66 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales fell 2.7 percent to $14.6 billion, while sales at stores open at least a year, a key retail gauge known as same-store sales, fell 6.2 percent.

Shares rose to $43.60 in premarket trading on Tuesday after closing at $41.38 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)