Wall Street Journal
By Matt Jarzemsky
Kohl's Corp.'s first-quarter profit rose 6% as its sales increase came alongside an unchanged gross margin.
The company raised its per-share earnings forecast for the year to $4.25 to $4.40 from its earlier estimate of $4.05 to $4.25, reflecting the latest results and expected share buybacks.
For the current quarter, it predicted a per-share profit of 96 cents to $1.02. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $1.
The seller of mid-price apparel, accessories and home decor, has seen sales rise in recent quarters, helping earnings. Retailers have benefited from consumer spending holding up despite persistently high unemployment and a weak housing market. Kohl's has ramped up shareholder-friendly efforts this year, adding to its share buyback program and boosting its quarterly payout to shareholders in February.
For the quarter ended April 30, Kohl's reported a profit of $211 million, or 73 cents a share, up from $199 million, or 64 cents a share, a year earlier. Last week, the company said it expected per-share earnings at the high end of the 68 cent to 73 cents forecast it had given in February.
The company said last week that total sales rose 3.1% to $4.16 billion on a 1.3% increase in same-store sales. The result missed its February estimate for sales growth of 4% to 6%.
Gross margin was unchanged at 38.1%.
The company ended the period with 1,097 stores, up from 1,067 a year earlier.
