Retail

Kohl's Jumps on Incredible Earnings Beat

Chris Lange

Published: November 10, 2016 11:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:56 pm

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) released its fiscal third-quarter earnings report before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said that it had $0.80 in earnings per share (EPS) and $4.33 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for EPS of $0.70 and $4.33 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $0.75 in EPS and revenue of $4.43 billion.

The company ended the quarter with 1,155 Kohl’s stores, 12 FILA Outlet stores and three Off/Aisle clearance centers in 49 states, compared with 1,166 Kohl’s stores at the same time last year.

In terms of guidance, Kohl’s reaffirmed its prior 2016 outlook for EPS in the range of $3.80 to $4.00. The consensus estimates are $3.87 in EPS.

The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on the company’s common stock of $0.50 per share. The dividend is payable December 21, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 7. Also the board of directors increased the company’s outstanding share purchase authorization under its existing share repurchase program to $2.0 billion.

On the books, Kohl’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $597 million at the end of the quarter, up from $501 million at the end of the same period of last year.

Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s board chair, chief executive and president, commented:

We are pleased to see continued improvement in our sales trends. Our back-to-school season was strong, followed by a soft September, and progressive improvement throughout October. We are encouraged by these trends as we enter the Holiday season. Our teams did an excellent job managing inventory. Expenses were also well-controlled as substantially all teams outperformed their plans.

Shares of Kohl’s traded up more than 13% at $51.94 on Thursday, with a consensus analyst price target of $46.82 and a 52-week trading range of $33.87 to $52.06.