Kohl’s Corp. today reported first quarter net income of $154 million, or 63 cents per share, down from $201 million, or 69 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Menomonee Falls-based department store chain’s quarterly net sales grew 1.9 percent to $4.2 billion, and comparable store sales for the quarter increased 0.2 percent.
Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, “Our first quarter results reflect the implementation of our strategy to initiate lower pricing in order to provide greater value to our customers. This planned action led to significantly lower gross margins for the quarter. Strong management of expenses allowed us to achieve our earnings goal for the quarter. We have accelerated new receipts into second quarter to ensure we are well-positioned from an inventory perspective for the Back-to-School season. The combination of these two actions should allow us to greatly improve our sales for the fall season.”
The decline in earnings and flat sales for the quarter prompted Kohl’s stock shares to drop $2.15 to $48.71 this morning.
