1. Target was mentioned in the chapter as a company that has a high degree of seasonality (and associated working capital issues). Lets use the Internet to examine the seasonality. Go to www.target.com . Scroll to the bottom of the page, and under the About Target heading, click on Investor Relations. At the top of the page, hold your mouse over Investors and select Analyst Coverage from the drop-down menu. Scroll down to Analyst Forecasts and Actuals. You will see historical and projected data for both quarterly and annual periods.

2. Based on the observed data, which of the four quarters (Qs) is normally best for Target? Please give the reason why.

3. Which quarter is normally the worst? This may be a close call.

4. Taking the most recent year in which there are four quarters of data shown, what percentage of total fiscal year earnings does the best quarter represent?