Kohl’s Corp. KSS, -2.22% stock slipped 1.8% in Tuesday premarket trading after the company missed revenue expectations. Kohl’s posted fourth-quarter net income of $299 million, or $2.20 per share, after net income of $342 million, or $2.20 per share, last year. Revenue of $6.50 billion was up from $6.14 billion last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $2.10 and revenue of $6.60 billion. Kohl’s is doubling its annual dividend to $2.00 per share. And the company is planning to repurchase at least $1 billion in shares in 2022, with $500 million expected to be repurchased in the second quarter. For the full year, Kohl’s is guiding for a sales increase of 2% to 3%, and EPS in the range of $7.00 to $7.50, excluding non-recurring charges. The FactSet consensus is for revenue of $19.11 billion, implying about 1.7% growth and EPS of $6.56. The department store retailer had record 2021 adjusted EPS of $7.33, exceeding the previous record of $5.60 in 2018 and ahead of the FactSet consensus for $7.25. Kohl’s has been doing battle with activist investors. “Our operating margin of 8.6% exceeded our 2023 goal two years ahead of plan, a direct result of our efforts to restructure the business to be more profitable,” said Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “We remain extremely confident in the future growth and cash flow generation of our business, and in 2022 will build on our momentum as we further scale key initiatives such as Sephora.” Kohl’s will host its investor event on March 7. Kohl’s stock is down 2.4% over the last year while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.24% has gained 12.1%.
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