Kohl's 3Q profit misses consensus, same-store sales down 1.8%

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Lee Matz

Kohl's total sales in the third quarter declined 1.6 percent to $4.37 billion from $4.44 billion.

David Schuyler

Digital Producer- Milwaukee Business Journal

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Kohl's Corp. reported Thursday that net income for the third quarter dropped 20 percent on a 1.8 percent decline in same-store sales for the department store chain.

Menomonee Falls-based Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) reported net income for the quarter ended Nov. 1 of $142 million, or 70 cents per share, down from $177 million, or 81 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Total sales declined 1.6 percent to $4.37 billion from $4.44 billion.

Earnings were below the consensus estimate of 75 cents a share, according to Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. analysts. Same-store figures were also worse than the company's projections for a decline of 1.4 percent on softer October sales, Baird analysts Mark Altschwager and Jacob Zitter wrote in an analyst note this week.

Kohl's ended the quarter with 1,163 stores in 49 states, compared with 1,158 stores at the same time last year. During the quarter, the company opened stores in three new locations and reopened one store which had closed in the first quarter for a complete re-build.

In a conference call, Kohl's chairman and CEO Kevin Mansell said the company is projecting a 2 percent to 3 percent increase in same-store sales in the fourth quarter, in part because of an extra shopping day during the holidays and other initiatives taking place to drive revenue growth. Those efforts include the company's "Greatness Agenda" outlined at its recent investor's conference in Milwaukee. Local customers will see some of those efforts this holiday season with the introduction by Kohl's of a new buy online/pick-up in store program that's now being tested in the Milwaukee, Chicago and San Diego markets, Mansell said.

David Schuyler is Digital Producer overseeing website content and also serves as a reporter covering the arts and nonprofit organizations for the Milwaukee Business Journal.

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