Retail

Kohl's Crumbles Despite Solid Bottom Line

Chris Lange

Published: August 10, 2017 10:50 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 9:14 am

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) reported its most recent financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said it had $1.24 in earnings per share (EPS) and $4.14 billion in revenue, which compares with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $1.19 in EPS and revenue $4.12 billion. The fiscal second-quarter last year had EPS of $1.22 and $4.18 billion in revenue.

During the quarter, comparable store sales fell 0.4% in the fiscal second quarter, versus comparable sales falling 1.8% in the same period last year.

This retailer ended the quarter with 1,154 Kohl’s stores in 49 states, compared with 1,150 Kohl’s stores at the same time last year.

The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per share on common stock. The dividend is payable September 20 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 6.

On the books, Kohl’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $552 million at the end of the quarter, down from with $700 million at the end of the same period of last year.

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

The traffic momentum that we saw in the combined March/April period accelerated in the second quarter. Though transactions for the quarter were lower than last year, July transactions increased. We are also excited by the sequential sales trend improvement in all our lines of business, all geographic regions, and in both our proprietary and national brand portfolios. Gross margin and SG&A expenses were consistent with our expectations and we are seeing benefits from our ongoing inventory initiatives and the early stages of our cost-saving initiative.

Shares of Kohl’s were last seen down almost 8% at $38.68, with a consensus analyst price target of $40.63 and a 52-week range of $35.16 to $59.67.