Target (NYSE: TGT) investors had a great week. Their stock jumped 13% through early Friday trading compared to a 1% increase in the wider market, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. That rally added to a great year so far for owners of the retailing giant, whose shares are up 20% to date. Zooming out, though, the stock has underperformed the S 500 by a wide margin in the past year, rising just 4% while the index gained 27%.

This week's spike was powered by good news on the earnings front.

Target announced Q4 results before the market opened on Tuesday, and Wall Street liked what it saw. Sure, comparable-store sales fell for yet another quarter. That's unfortunate given that more diversified retailers like Walmart are growing steadily. But Target's customer traffic metric improved to a less-than-2% loss from 4% in the prior quarter. This success showed that the new merchandising strategy of emphasizing value is working.

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Source Fool.com