KSS Stock Soars As Strategic Cuts, Forecast Upgrade Fuel Investor Optimism

Kohl’s (KSS) shares jumped over 22% before the bell on Wednesday after the department store chain raised its profit forecasts as efforts to trim costs through inventory reduction, closing underperforming stores, and an improvement in its assortments have started to pay off.

The company said it now expects fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $0.50 to $0.80, up from the prior forecast of $0.10 to $0.60.

“We were able to expand our gross margins, reduce our inventory, and lower our expenses, leading to solid second quarter earnings,” said Interim CEO Michael Bender.

The company witnessed retail user message count on Stocktwits jump nearly 342% in the last 24 hours. Retail sentiment on Kohl’s improved to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ territory, with message volumes at ‘high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.

A bullish user on Stocktwits called Kohl’s “the stock of the day and the rest of the week.”

Kohl’s has seen a huge jump in its shares over the last month following a rally reminiscent of GameStop’s meme stock frenzy during the pandemic. This has pushed the department store chain’s stock price up, following a renewed interest from retail investors to boost underperforming stocks.

Another bullish user on Stocktwits noted that the stock should ideally be in the range of $20 to $25.

Kohl’s second-quarter revenue came in at $3.35 billion, compared with Wall Street expectations of $3.37 billion, according to data compiled by Fiscal AI. Its quarterly earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.56, beating estimates of $0.30.

The company has been banking on its partnership with Sephora to boost sales and traffic to its stores as demand for beauty products in the United States remains steady.  

Kohl’s stock declined nearly 7% so far this year and has lost 34% of its value in the last 12 months.

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