NEW YORK — Target’s heavy discounting during the crucial holiday season squeezed fourth-quarter profits, but the discounter’s trendy assortments and spiffed up presentations drove more shoppers to spend more.

The results, released Wednesday, show Target has made solid progress in reinvigorating its business and winning back shoppers. It initiated an aggressive plan to regain its cheap chic status in 2014 under new CEO Brian Cornell after a series of headline grabbing setbacks, including a major debit and credit card breach that hurt sales and profits for months.