Target tumbles 20% after its sales and earnings fall short. Here's what went wrong.

Target is heading into the holiday season with a gloomy outlook, with the retailer reporting its sales and profit fell short of analysts' expectations and lowering its earnings forecast for the current quarter. Its shares tumbled almost 20% in pre-market trading. 

Shares of Target tumbled $28.78, or 18.5%, to $127.22 in premarket trading. 

The retail chain said its third-quarter sales rose 1.1% to $25.7 billion, while net income dropped 12% to $854 million, or $1.85 per share. Analysts had forecast sales of $25.9 billion and per-share earnings of $2.30, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet.