Kohl's puts up big 2Q numbers, raises profit outlook

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (AP) -- Kohl's breezed past Wall Street's second-quarter profit and revenue expectations and raised its profit outlook for the year.

Investors at first punished the stock but grew more optimistic as the day went on, pushing up the company's shares nearly 2 percent Tuesday.

Like many retailers, Kohl's is reinventing itself as shoppers move increasingly online. But it is also benefiting from a stronger job market and rising consumer confidence. Walmart, Home Depot, Macy's and Nordstrom were among the retailers that raised their forecasts over the past few days.

Retailers are also benefiting from some of their rivals' struggles. Kohl's executives said on a conference call that it's angling to pick up customers who shopped at Bon-Ton Inc., which is in the midst of liquidation.

It also announced a partnership with Authentic Brands Group, the new owner of Nine West, which filed for bankruptcy in April. Starting next summer, Kohl's will be selling shoes, handbags and an exclusive women's clothing collection under the Nine West brand.

For the three months ended Aug. 4, Kohl's Corp. earned $292 million, or $1.76 per share, far exceeding the per-share expectations of $1.65 that analysts had projected, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Clothing, both men's and women's, were huge sellers during the quarter.

The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, company did much better than last year, when it reported $208 million, or $1.24 per share.

Revenue was $4.57 billion, up from $4.4 billion, which also topped projections for $4.45 billion.

Sales at store open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer's health, climbed 3.1 percent, which was in line with expectations, but it's a sharp turnaround from a year ago, when those sales fell 0.4 percent. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of rising same-store sales.

Kohl's raised its per-share profit expectations to a range of $4.96 to $5.36 this year, up from between $4.86 and $5.31. Adjusted for one-time charges and benefits, it expects earnings between $5.15 and $5.55 per share, up from $5.05 to $5.50 per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect full-year earnings of $5.39 per share.

Shares of Kohl's rose $1.35 to close at $80.20.

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Portions of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KSS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KSS