Kohls Corp Earnings: Margins Shrink as Costs Rise, Profit Falls

February 23, 2012

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Kohls Corporation (NYSE:KSS) reported its results for the fourth quarter. Kohl’s operates department stores that offer apparel, footwear and accessories as well as home products and housewares.

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Kohls Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Fourth Quarter

Results: Net income for the department store fell to $455 million ($1.81 per share) vs. $494 million ($1.66 per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 7.9% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Fell 0.3% to $6.02 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Kohls Corporation was about in line with expectations as the mean analyst estimate of $1.80 per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $6.07 billion.

Key Stats:

A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of four consecutive quarters of revenue increases. The best quarter in that span was the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, which saw revenue rise 6.3%.

The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by one cent in the third quarter, by one cent in the second quarter, and by one cent in the first quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly negative about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the first quarter of the next fiscal year has moved down from 84 cents a share to 79 cents over the last sixty days. The average estimate for the fiscal year is $4.31 per share, down from $4.48 ninety days ago.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com