Kohl's Crushes Q2 Earnings Estimates
Department stores have reported surprisingly strong second-quarter results this month. Pent-up demand has enabled many companies in the perennially challenged sector to surpass their 2019 sales volumes in recent months. Moreover, department stores are capitalizing on tight inventory across the retail industry to cut back on discounting, boosting gross margin.
On Thursday, Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) became the latest department store chain to reveal a big earnings beat for the second quarter. Let's take a look.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Kohl's top line plunged by more than 40%, as it was forced to shutter its stores temporarily. The company's sales trajectory steadily improved over the course of 2020, though. By the fourth quarter, sales were down a comparatively modest 10.1% year over year. Kohl's made further progress in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, reporting total revenue of $3.89 billion -- down just 4.9% compared to Q1 2019.
Source Fool.com
