A worker pushes a cart outside of Kohl’s store on November 26, 2024 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Kohl’s posted an earnings and revenue beat for the fourth quarter on Tuesday, but its stock plunged as it issued much worse-than-expected guidance for the year ahead.
Shares of the company fell more than 15% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
For 2025, Kohl’s expects revenue to fall 5% to 7%, compared with Wall Street estimates of a 1.6% decrease, according to LSEG. The company projected comparable sales will fall 4% to 6%, while analysts anticipated a 0.9% decrease, according to StreetAccount. Kohl’s expects earnings per share to come in between 10 cents and 60 cents, a miss compared to a midpoint Wall Street estimate of $1.23, according to LSEG.
Here’s how the retailer did compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 95 cents adjusted vs. 73 cents expected
- Revenue: $5.18 billion vs. $5.15 billion expected
Kohl’s has navigated significant turmoil in the last few months. The retailer in November named Ashley Buchanan its new CEO as of Jan. 15, replacing Tom Kingsbury after he spent two years leading Kohl’s. In January, the company announced that it had cut nearly 10% of its corporate workforce and would close 27 underperforming stores by April.
Shares of the company have fallen over 50% in the past year.
Kohl’s also became the latest retailer to say it expected a turbulent 2025, following Dick’s Sporting Goods earlier Tuesday. Falling consumer confidence, President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and weaker-than-expected job growth have all raised fears about a potential recession.
Kohl’s fourth-quarter net sales of $5.18 billion fell from $5.71 billion during the same period in 2023. Full-year 2024 sales came in at $15.39 billion, down from $16.59 billion in 2023. Both the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2023 were one week longer than their 2024 counterparts.
Quarterly comparable sales, defined by Kohl’s as sales from e-commerce and stores open for at least 12 months, fell 6.7% year over year. Wall Street expected a 6.8% decrease, according to StreetAccount.
Kohl’s reported a net income for the fourth quarter of $48 million, or 43 cents per share, compared with a net income of $186 million, or $1.67 per share, during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Adjusting for costs associated with impairments and store closures, Kohl’s reported fourth-quarter earnings of 95 cents per share.
