KSS

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET Director of Investor Relations - Trevor Novotny Chief Executive Officer - Michael Bender Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - Jill Timm Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Q2 2026 Kohl's Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Trevor Novotny, Director of Investor Relations. Trevor, please go ahead. Trevor Novotny: Thank you. Certain statements made on this call, including those regarding our projected financial results, business outlook, and future initiatives, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause Kohl's actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors described in Item 1A of Kohl's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and as may be supplemented from time to time in Kohl's other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Forward-looking statements relate to the date initially made, and Kohl's undertakes no obligation to update them. In addition, during this call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the cautionary statement and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures included in the investor presentation filed as an exhibit to our Form 8-K as filed with the SEC and available on our Investor Relations website. Please note that this call will be recorded. However, replays of the call will not be updated. So if you are listening to a replay, it is possible that the information discussed is no longer current, and Kohl's assumes no obligation to update such information. With me this morning are Michael Bender, our Chief Executive Officer; and Jill Timm, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Michael. Michael Bender: Thank you, Trevor. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Kohl's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Our second quarter performance reflects the continued progress we are making against our key initiatives, leading to another improvement in our comparable sales trend. In addition to the top-line performance, our team demonstrated strong operational discipline. By maintaining this rigor around our expense and inventory management, we have substantially improved our balance sheet and cash flow generation. The solid financial foundation we have built over the past year is enabling us to invest in the business, drive value for our customers, and return capital to shareholders. We are operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment where our customers are experiencing persistent financial pressures from inflation in their everyday expenses like gas and food. While their day-to-day priorities may change, the consumer is consistently looking for value, a compelling assortment, and an inspiring experience. The work we have underway is focused on addressing each of these customer priorities. And as we look to the remainder of the year, we expect this economic backdrop to continue. We believe that our healthy balance sheet will provide us meaningful support and flexibility to navigate through this environment to continue our journey of progressive improvement. Before I get into more detail, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to our entire Kohl's team for their efforts over the past quarter. While this quarter marks another small step in the right direction, we know there is more work to be done. Each day, we have the opportunity to show up for our customers, and I'm confident that the work we are executing is leading us in the right direction. Now let me share some additional highlights from our performance. We are pleased to see continued positive momentum across key areas of our business throughout the second quarter. First, our loyal Kohl's Card customer showed ongoing progress and delivered a sales increase of 1% in the second quarter. Over the past year, we implemented multiple targeted actions to successfully reengage these individuals. This milestone represents the beginning of our journey, and we see further opportunities to deepen our engagement with this key customer, which represents our most productive customer base. Second, our proprietary brands increased 3% in the second quarter. Over the past year, we've made significant progress enhancing our proprietary offerings, receiving a strong, positive customer response. We have driven major improvements by delivering exceptional value and increasing inventory depth by 6% to support better product availability. Third, we also made deliberate progress in transitioning our seasonal goods earlier, a strategy that drove positive sales in the spring and maintained a flat performance in Q2. Building on this, we set our fall seasonal assortment in July to effectively capitalize on the back-to-school window, which has already provided a strong start to the season. We plan to continue this proactive approach as we head into the holiday season, positioning us to capture demand early and maximize momentum throughout the remainder of the year. Next, I would like to give you an update on the progress we are making against our 3 key initiatives we outlined at the beginning of the year. This work is rooted in putting the customer at the center of everything we do. Let me begin with our first initiative, offering a Curated and more balanced assortment that fulfills the needs of all customers. Through enhancing assortment clarity, fulfilling customer demands, and improving product relevance, we are continuing to refine our offerings. This strategic focus enabled sales improvement across the majority of our lines of business. Home had the strongest performance this quarter, delivering sales growth of 1%. The strength in Home was driven by decor and small electrics. Home decor benefited from our adjustments in merchandising efforts to deliver more choices in this category, with choice count receipts up over 10% to last year. We saw particular strength in our Americana decor as we celebrated America's 250th anniversary. As we head into the fall, we are investing into more choices for our fall and harvest decor assortment. Small Electrics continued to benefit from newness and innovation in national brands such as Shark and Ninja. We also saw strong performances from KitchenAid and GreenPan. We anticipate further opportunity in this category in the back half of the year as we have strong receipt flow this year after being limited in our buys last year due to tariff pressures. Our bedding and bath categories were flat for the quarter, with strength coming from our proprietary brand offerings of The Big One and Mariana. We also saw solid growth in our Mingle & Co. brand within our tabletop category. Now let me move to our Kids business, which was flat in the quarter. Toys continues to be strong with a double-digit sales increase led by LEGO, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and our value towers. To support the high-volume holiday season, we will continue driving growth in Toys by expanding our inventory investment. Additionally, in Q2, we launched value-driven family Fan Zones featuring localized team apparel and Accessories. We saw strong traction around the World Cup, and we have recently transitioned these spaces to showcase our NFL licensed products ahead of the new season. We also saw strength in our private label brands in Kids. We rolled out our popular FLX brand to all stores in June and initial results are exceeding our expectations. Our -- so brand generated positive comps in the second quarter with growth in our young girls' category. In addition, Jumping Beans built momentum across the quarter, supported by the July introduction of our baby line and our ongoing emphasis on the brand's exceptional value proposition. To build on our infant and baby apparel business, we are expanding our offering of baby gifts and accessories through our Babies"R"Us partnership. We recently rolled out in-store fixtures across all locations to highlight our top-selling baby gifts and accessories, driving solid second quarter growth. We're also completing 56 additional Babies"R"Us shop build-outs in September. Total accessories also outperformed the company with a flat performance versus last year. Excluding our Sephora business, accessories increased mid-single digits. This performance was driven by newness in Impulse and jewelry. Our Impulse business maintains strong momentum, supported by accessible pricing and frequent product refreshes that deliver a new discoverable assortment. Key drivers include trending items like needle squishies, alongside everyday essentials such as toiletries and sunscreen. Jewelry continues its strong performance, delivering a mid-single-digit sales increase in the second quarter. We saw strength in our boxed giftable, personalized- and sentiment-themed as well as our fashion jewelry. Building on the strength of this category, we are rolling out an additional 350 fine jewelry case lines in the fourth quarter, bringing the total store count with case lines to 549 stores. In addition, 320 stores will be receiving elevated fashion jewelry fixtures by November. These fixtures will highlight newness and inspire customers to complete their look with fashion accessories. Our Sephora at Kohl's business faced headwinds this quarter with sales down 4%. While we continue to see strong customer demand for newness, the top-line performance was pressured by the impact of expanded distribution for several of our key brands. Breaking down the performance by category, fragrance remained a strong driver, anchored by new brands like Dolce & Gabbana and YSL, while hair care also outperformed the company led by OUAI and Kerastase. In makeup, we continue to see strong traction from existing brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Makeup by Mario, and Merit, as well as newness buoyed by the launch of M.A.C. However, this growth was dampened by declines in brands with expanded distribution. Finally, skincare had a challenging quarter as we lapped several major launches and have yet to reach scale from existing new launches in K-Beauty and Body, including brands like Salt & Stone, which is already off to a strong start. We recognize that in addition to driving our core offering, this business is also driven by newness and innovation, and we are excited about our upcoming category launches. In fragrance, we are introducing Khloe Kardashian and Givenchy, alongside expansions from Kylie and Jo Malone. This will be supported by new fragrance towers in 250 stores this November. In haircare, we are launching Emi Jay, Crown Affair, i.N.O., and Fromlabs, while our skincare category will debut Evereden, Topicals, and Ultra Violette. Furthermore, we're rolling out holiday outposts in 130 stores, building on our strong gifting category as our gift sets continue to resonate well with our customers. And finally, we are continuing to maximize our travel and trial assortment to attract new customers through our queue lines, maintaining a focus on delivering value. While we're excited about these actions to implement newness into our Sephora at Kohl's business, we want to be realistic in our expectations for the remainder of the year. We expect the softer performance we've seen year-to-date to persist until we can reach full scale with new brands and cycle through the headwinds from expanded distribution from a few of the bigger brands. Turning to our women's business, performance moderated in the second quarter, finishing down 1.5%. Despite the broader slowdown, we continue to see standout strength in our juniors department, which delivered another 10% increase. This momentum was driven by exceptional customer response to our SO brand and a successful infusion of newness throughout the assortment. Active also outperformed the category, led by Nike, which saw its largest gains of the year alongside sustained strength in our proprietary Tek Gear and FLX brands. Furthermore, our denim business returned to positive growth, and we are well positioned to build on this momentum as we transition into the critical back-to-school season. These gains were partially offset by underperformance in our intimates category. Additionally, growth in our proprietary brands slowed during the period. This was primarily a result of higher-than-anticipated sell-through early in the quarter, which left us inventory constrained and unable to effectively chase back into the business. We've taken decisive action to address this for the back half of the year. Our new fall proprietary receipts are already off to a strong start, and we have made a significantly larger inventory investment to ensure we are better positioned to meet demand through the remainder of the year. Our men's business improved by 100 basis points from the prior quarter, now running in line with the total company. This category continues to work through assortment edits to reduce redundancy and improve clarity in our offering. Men's is seeing strong customer engagement with proprietary brands, which increased by high-single digits during the second quarter. Key growth drivers include Tek Gear and FLX, with FLX benefiting from the successful debut of its new golf apparel collection. The dress category also continues to be a strong category for us, driven by both proprietary and national brands from Apt. 9 and Haggar. This is offset by softness in our active national brand business. Although footwear continues to trail overall company performance, the category delivered the most significant sequential gain with comp performance accelerating approximately 500 basis points compared to Q1. Momentum built across the quarter as we introduced fresh inventory and enhanced depth in core active brands like Nike and adidas. Additionally, we saw strength in our kids' footwear business running up mid-single digits, which gives us confidence in our back-to-school assortment. Looking ahead, we are reinvesting in Women's boots to capture the demand unfulfilled last year because of tariff constraints. We anticipate this category will serve as a positive driver in the fall. Overall, we remain on track for further category gains in the back half of the year. We are also further curating our product assortment by expanding our marketplace business. This year, we are more than doubling our selection of marketplace products and vendors, driving relevant category and brand expansion. While early in its growth, Kohl's Marketplace is becoming a more meaningful part of the business, increasing 88% this quarter. This capability creates an opportunity to attract more customers by expanding assortments to support seasonal transitions, invest into white space categories, and bridge inventory gaps to complement our core assortments. Now let me move to our second initiative, reestablishing Kohl's as a leader in value and quality. We know our customers remain under financial pressure, and they are becoming increasingly choiceful, actively seeking value in every purchase. Throughout the past year, we have actively refined and differentiated our value proposition to meet these expectations by expanding coupon inclusion, testing new promotional offers, and investing in our opening-price-point proprietary brands. These strategic enhancements are designed to deepen our engagement with our existing customer base while simultaneously attracting more new customers. Throughout the quarter, we made further strides in optimizing our pricing and promotional strategies. The successful testing of new promotional formats, including VIP cardholder events Kohl's Deal Days, and personalized 'Just for You' offers, which generated a positive response and increased productivity with our Kohl's Card customer. Leveraging these insights, we plan to broaden our targeted pricing initiatives and promotional events to offer even greater value to our customers. Our proprietary brands continue to serve as a cornerstone of our value proposition. We are making investments focused on enhancing our inventory depth and assortment, elevating the in-store experience to better showcase our collections, and scaling our marketing support to ensure these brands remain top of mind. Our entry price point brands, including Sonoma, Tek Gear, and The Big One, continue to resonate with our customers who are focused on value. We believe these targeted actions will continue to resonate with our shoppers and bolster our competitive position. Additionally, we continue to lean into our By Kohl's marketing campaign we launched earlier this year. In Q2, we tested a By Kohl's promotion to deliver more engagement and visibility with these brands, and we are pleased with the start of this campaign and the awareness it is drawing to our proprietary brands that you can only find at Kohl's. Moving forward, we will continue to fund this campaign, leveraging a cross-channel marketing approach, utilizing a wide range of influencers on social media. As we look ahead, we are finding additional ways to feature value in our product offerings. A good example of this is our back-to-school assortment, which highlights thousands of products, all under $25 price points. Building on the momentum of our Deal Bar and Toy Tower concepts in Q2, which feature items priced under $10, these offerings effectively capture incremental basket growth with trending toys, seasonal gifts, and home decor. This leads to our third initiative, delivering a frictionless shopping experience across our omni-channel platforms. Delivering a seamless, inspiring experience, whether in-store or online, remains a critical component of our strategy. Product relevance and consistent in-stock levels are the primary enablers of this experience, and we are sharpening our focus on both. We are strategically investing in inventory depth for our apparel, increasing our depth by low-double digits, while simultaneously reducing our overall assortment choices by high-teens to improve clarity, simplify the shopping journey, and deliver trip assurance. Additionally, we are refining our allocation processes to provide better product distribution, especially in our lower-volume stores that have previously faced limitations in inventory and selection. By getting the right inventory to the right place, we are confident this will drive improved engagement and productivity across our entire fleet. To further support these inventory investments, we are leaning into our in-store experience and marketing efforts. We will be completing our elevated in-store experience for our by Kohl's brands this fall. You will see this across all stores elevating key brands like Sonoma, LC Lauren Conrad, FLX, SO, and more. This experience is designed to inspire our customers with full outfitting concepts on mannequins, improved signage and wayfinding to the brands they love, and Find Your Fit sizing charts to lead them to the exact styles and fits they're looking for. Alongside these store enhancements for our proprietary brands, we're also investing in upgraded experiences for key strategic partners, Nike and Levi's. The elevated product displays will showcase fresh looks and inspire our shoppers. By building a more engaging environment that spotlights key brands, we empower customers to spend their money on the choices that suit them best. Last, to meet our customers wherever they prefer to shop, we're also investing in our digital capabilities and enhancing the omni-channel experience. Store Pickup has increased meaningfully and now represents over 20% of digital demand, reinforcing the advantage of using our store network to give customers greater speed, convenience, and choice in how they shop with Kohl's. For customers looking for same-day delivery, we continue to scale Instacart. And in July, we recently launched a new partnership with DoorDash to capture incremental demand and new customers. We're also encouraged by the early signals from agentic commerce. Adoption is still small, but customers who engage with our AI shopping assistant are showing stronger conversion and higher revenue per visit. We see significant opportunities to expand AI-assisted discovery, gifting, and purchase confidence over time. The modernization of our digital experience is well underway, with most core customer journeys now on our new platform. Early results show faster page performance and improved customer behavior through product pages, cart, and checkout. We are also continuing to build capabilities that reduce friction, including flexible payment options such as Klarna ahead of the holiday. Collectively, we believe these investments will benefit us over the long term to improve the experience for our current customers and to help us attract new customers. In closing, we have a lot of great work currently underway, and more opportunity lies ahead of us. The second quarter proved to be another step in the right direction, and I'm confident in the direction we are heading. Before I hand the call over to Jill, I would like to take a moment to welcome Elliott Rodgers to Kohl's as our Chief Operating Officer, who will join us on September 9. Elliott brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in retail and large-scale operational roles, has helped brands navigate through change, embrace innovation, and drive results through strong execution. I'd also like to congratulate Arianne Parisi, who will be stepping into the newly created role of Chief Customer Officer. Bringing marketing and digital experience under one leader will help foster a greater focus on the entire customer life cycle, connecting our brand positioning and customer experience. As we make important progress across the business, we are also taking meaningful steps toward building for the future. I look forward to the contributions Elliott and Arianne will make as we drive our business forward. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jill. Jill Timm: Thank you, Michael. For today's call, I will provide additional details on our second quarter and year-to-date results, an update on our capital allocation, and provide commentary around our updated fiscal year 2026 guidance. As you heard from Michael, Q2 is another point of progress against our key initiatives. Our comparable sales declined 0.9% in the second quarter, driven by a slight decline in both average transaction value and transactions. Year-to-date, our comp sales declined 1%. Our store sales continue to show sequential improvement and were down 2%, while our digital business increased 2.8% in the quarter. As Michael mentioned, we saw the majority of our lines of business improve their sales trend from the first quarter with Home, Kids, and Juniors leading the company. In addition, our Kohl's Card performance was up over 1% for the quarter and 0.6% for the year. Our Marketplace business continues to grow, up 88% compared to last year, and is becoming a more meaningful contributor to our overall performance. Including the Marketplace GMV growth, our comparable sales would have improved by 65 basis points and been down 0.2% in Q2. For the year, Marketplace increased 75% and would have improved our year-to-date comp by approximately 60 basis points to down 0.4%. Other revenue, which is primarily made up of our credit business, declined 1% in the second quarter and 5% year-to-date. This represents a notable trend improvement driven by the stronger Kohl's Card sales over the past couple of quarters. Gross margin improved 305 basis points in the second quarter and 162 basis points year-to-date. In Q2, we received approximately $150 million of tariff refunds, of which approximately $100 million benefited our Cost of merchandise sold. A portion of the refund was recorded as a reduction of inventory, shared with our vendor partners, and invested to deliver greater value to our customers. Excluding the impact of the tariffs, our gross margin would have increased approximately 5 basis points, in line with our guidance. SG&A expense declined 0.9% in Q2 and 1.3% year-to-date. Our Q2 decline was mainly driven by expense savings across Stores, Corporate, and Credit. Depreciation expense was $173 million in Q2 and $347 million year-to-date. Interest expense was $63 million in Q2 and $126 million year-to-date. In the second quarter, we retired an additional $63 million of our long-term debt at a discount of $6 million through open-market debt repurchases. Year-to-date, we've repurchased a total of $113 million at a discount of $15 million. Our tax rate was 23%, this resulted in net income of $151 million in Q2 or $1.28 earnings per diluted share. Year-to-date, our net income was $137 million, or $1.18 earnings per diluted share. Moving on to our balance sheet and capital allocation. We finished the second quarter in significantly better cash position compared to last year. Our cash and cash equivalents were $821 million, and we continue to operate the business with no borrowings on our ABL. This represents over a $700 million increase to our net cash position when compared to last year. This strong cash position gives us the ability to invest in our key initiatives to drive the business and deliver value to customers. Inventory decreased approximately 3% compared to last year. We continue to invest in our proprietary brand inventory while reducing redundancy to bring better value and clarity to our customers. Our receipts were up 7% in the quarter to support trending categories such as Toys, Jewelry, and Juniors. We also pulled forward fall seasonal receipts to capture early demand for back-to-school. In addition, our choice count was down mid-teens, while our depth increased mid-single digits, helping drive increased trip assurance for our customers. We now anticipate inventory to be down low-single-digits for the year. Now I want to provide an update on our current Capital Allocation Priorities. Our first priority will always be to invest into our business. Capital expenditures year-to-date are $146 million, prioritizing investments in our store fleet, including expanding Impulse lines, deploying modernized store devices and self-checkouts, as well as general maintenance projects. Additionally, we are supporting our digital business by investing in site experience, automation, and AI. We continue to expect our full-year capital spend to be approximately $350 million to $400 million. Second, we will continue to return capital to shareholders through our dividend. In Q2, we returned $14 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend. And as previously disclosed, the Board on August 18, declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share payable to shareholders on September 23. Third, we will continue to evaluate the market for opportunistic debt repurchases. Year-to-date, we have repurchased $113 million of debt at a discount of $15 million. The efforts to deleverage over the last 3 quarters allowed us to reduce our long-term debt to its lowest level since 2007. And last, driven by our strong balance sheet and the confidence in our path forward, we are pleased to increase our capital returns to our shareholders. Under our existing $3 billion Board authorization, we are resuming our share repurchase program with plans to buy back approximately $100 million in stock in 2026. This represents our first buyback since 2022 and underlines our ongoing dedication to enhancing long-term shareholder value. Now let me provide some details on our updated guidance for 2026. Our second quarter results reflect the continued progress we've made against our initiatives and demonstrate the ongoing discipline with which we operate the business. While we are encouraged with our results, and we believe our strategic initiatives will allow us to make further progressive improvement throughout the year, we want to be mindful of the current macroeconomic environment we are operating in. We continue to see choiceful discretionary spending from our core low- to middle-income customer as they remain financially pressured. The realization of approximately $150 million of tariff refunds has provided us with even greater financial flexibility. We are strategically prioritizing the reinvestment of these proceeds directly into our core business initiatives to better serve our customers. We are deploying this capital to uphold our commitment to value while simultaneously strengthening our inventory position to support our opening price point brands. In addition, we are investing in media to deepen customer engagement and increasing store payroll to build on positive results from our recent staffing tests, which demonstrating meaningful improvements in customer satisfaction and sales productivity. Our updated guidance does not include the impact of any future tariff refunds. Given that context, we are raising our annual guidance and now expect comp sales to be in the range of 1.5% decrease to flat versus 2025. Adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 3.5% to 4% and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.80 to $2.40, which includes tariff refund benefit of approximately $0.65. Before we move to Q&A, I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to every Kohl's associate for your continued hard work and dedication. Your commitment and passion to serving our customers and executing against our key initiatives is helping create a stronger Kohl's with many exciting opportunities ahead. With that, Michael and I are happy to take your questions at this time. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett. Charles Grom: You've seen some nice improvement in your Kohl's Charge comp over the past 4 to 6 quarters from down mid-teens to positive 1% here this quarter. Historically, what does that suggest about the trajectory of the business, particularly in your proprietary brands, but also in your women's business? Jill Timm: Chuck, what I would say, first, we're really pleased with the rebound of our Kohl's Card customer. I think it reflects how they've reacted to a lot of the changes that we have made in the store, particularly around our proprietary brands and adding back key categories like Jewelry and Petites as well as the coupon inclusions. I think when we look at the Kohl's Charge Card, we know they never stopped shopping us. They just went elsewhere to find some of those items that weren't substitutable like Jewelry and Petites in our stores. So, as we brought back in the brands that they've known and loved from us, which was proprietary brands, they've reacted quite well, and we've seen that work. Obviously, Juniors is a standout so doing incredibly well. But Juniors, I think, now is on its third almost double-digit positive quarters of comps. So really a sentiment from that customer that they're reacting to that assortment. From a Women's perspective, I'd say they overpenetrate their proprietary brands, about 70% of our Women's apparel and our Kohl's Card customer makes up a lot of that share as well. So it's been bringing those items back into the store, they've reacted incredibly well. In fact, Women's, I think you heard on the call, we had higher sell-throughs than anticipated and just couldn't chase into that business fast enough. The good news is we did accelerate our fall receipts, and we're feeling really good with that business as it exited July and into August. So I would say that Kohl's Card rebounding is definitely a function of the efforts that we had put, but also them reacting to the great products that we're now showcasing in our stores. Michael Bender: The only other thing I would add to that, Chuck, would be that it also bodes well for us in looking out into the future about the projections for our credit revenue, right? Jill Timm: Exactly. What you saw, I think, in credit revenue only being down 1% in the quarter. I'd say now we expect that more to be probably with the company top-line versus lagging just given the quick rebound we saw for this customer. Charles Grom: Okay. You got to my second question, but on the credit revenue. And then just on the comp in the quarter, any color on the cadence phasing throughout the quarter? It sounds like July may be strong, but just can you confirm that? And any thoughts on Back-to-School. And as we think about the back half of the year, your guide does imply a little bit of an acceleration on the stacks. Can you help us think about the trajectory of the phasing here in 3Q and 4Q? And I guess what gives you the optimism that you can improve on a stack basis? So, a multi-part question there. Jill Timm: Sure. I can start. I think for quarterly comps, there was a lot of shifts in the calendar this quarter, particularly around deal days and the Prime event. What I would say is we feel very good with how we exited July. Pulling forward those Back-to-School receipts definitely gave us that momentum. We were able to capture that market share. And as that moves into August, we're seeing strength out of Sweaters, fleece, denim. Even you heard Michael on the call talk about Footwear improving 500 points. We're seeing our Active Footwear rebounding, particularly in performance and any newness that's setting on the floor. I would say we feel good with the momentum that we brought out of July. We're building that in August as well. As we approach the back half of the year, I think what it brackets is the guide for the back half would be flat to down 2%. So kind of very similarly to how we approach the guidance for the front half of the year. We do like our initiatives, we see the progressive improvement happening. I think particularly around inventory, we're investing back into inventory. We talked about that being in a lot of our low-volume stores. We've done a lot of testing about that inventory in the stores, making sure it's productive and really saw a large movement in a sales perspective by putting in some of those basics, having that depth, restoring that trip assurance. So those are things that give us confidence that we can build. However, as I mentioned, we're operating in really uncertain times, and we have a lot of pressure on our customer from a macro perspective. So I kind of look at it as though we have really run a 1% in the front half. That's the midpoint of the guide. That means we do nothing different. But if the initiatives continue to progress as we anticipate them to, that's how you then get up to the flat. And quite honestly, I would say that would build into Q4. I mean, I think Q4 for us last year was a little disappointing so that we would expect to do a little better there. We know we fell short with some of our fall seasonal product. We know we are limited in some of our buys, particularly around home decor, boots and small electrics, all of which are doing much better as we've seen in the front half of the season and are excited about even the start to harvest in decor in the back half of the season. So we would expect to be flat to exiting positively from a top end of the guide as we close out the year. Michael Bender: And just maybe one other thing to add or 2 other things to add in terms of the category performance that gives us confidence that the back half of the year has some upside potential. We think about things like team apparel. We used to have that here at Kohl's. It's coming back into stores. Jill mentioned small electrics and boots that were impacted by tariffs last year. That's something we'll overcome. That's not a challenge for us going forward. We're also going to be rolling out, as I mentioned, Babies"R"Us stores to about 60 more stores roughly. And we're rolling out also Jewelry, both in fine and fashion expansion as well across several hundred stores. So those things certainly bode well for us to believe that the holiday season and the balance of the year have some greater potential even in the performance that we've shown year-to-date. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Altschwager with Baird. Mark Altschwager: I wanted to start off following up on the proprietary brands. In the prepared remarks, you flagged the slowdown due to inventory constraints. Curious roughly how much sales do you think that cost you? And then just any more color you can give on what that trend has looked like as you've chased into the fall receipts? Jill Timm: Sure. I think for proprietary brands, Mark, we're actually quite pleased. We were still up 3%. So I think this consistently shows us putting back positive comps on the board, which, of course, as this matures, is going to be not at the highest level of growth that we've seen, but we think this is really a drumbeat that we can continue to prove into. I think Women's is probably the one category that we lagged in, and that was you had seen kind of top line and took a little bit of a step back and it's really being bifurcated between Juniors still up 10%. But in that core Women's business, we just had stronger sell-throughs. As you know, we approach the year from a conservative perspective from inventory as we were making these changes, but really saw consumers react quite well to the changes we're making. So brought forward some fall receipts, like I had mentioned, sweaters, fleece, and denim being in a great denim cycle, seeing that both on the proprietary side, but also in Levi's on our national brand side as well. So I think we feel very well set as we approach the back half of the year. But I would say if you kind of look at where Women's took a step back, that would say it was mainly a measure of the inventory that we didn't have in stores. Mark Altschwager: And to follow up also, Jill, on the EPS guide, the range moved up to $0.80. The tariff refund was $0.65 of that. Can you talk us through the rest? I mean, any of that operating versus what are the below-the-line impacts with interest expense and share count? And did anything change with respect to your back half assumptions on the gross margin and SG&A puts and takes? Jill Timm: Sure. What I would say overall is credit revenue obviously was a standout for the quarter, and we expect that to get better. So high level, that's probably the biggest difference between the guide with tariffs taking in the $0.65, and I would say credit revenue being the remainder. There are some other puts and takes in the P&L. We talked about on the call, we are going to continue to invest into value. So I think if you look at the margin guide, you're going to expect fall to be negative now, but that gives us a lot of flexibility to make sure that we're being competitive and watching where the prices are in the back half of the year. We know when we set ourselves up for Q4 originally with our guidance that it was going to be much more promotional and expected Q4 to be down. But I would just say now we're set up well with these tariff refunds to invest it back into value and be competitive from a pricing perspective. We also talked about investing into both media because we need to make sure people are aware of that pricing change as well as store payroll. We did some testing in our store payroll where we were much more customer-facing with that store payroll, and we saw a nice lift in both of our sales and our customer engagement. So I would say SG&A will probably be more flattish to slightly down in the year as we make that investment. And to your point, that comes out of some of those other below-the-line items like D&A and interest to keep us whole from an EPS perspective. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citi. Tracy Kogan: It's Tracy Kogan filling in for Paul. First question, I was hoping you guys could comment on your free cash flow expectations for the year and if they've changed at all and whether that includes the tariff benefit? And then is it fair to think your capital allocation strategy, at least for the remainder of the year would favor debt repayment over share repo? And where do you expect to end the year on cash? And then my second question is, is it fair to think that your current trends are in line with what your implied back half guidance is of flat to down to? Jill Timm: Sure. So okay, I'll start with the free cash flow. Really, I would say I start with operating cash flow, Tracy, and we think that will probably be in the, call it, $950 million, maybe up as high as $1 billion, depending on where you put us on the range from that perspective. We still think CapEx will be $350 million to $400 million. We have a lot of projects that we think could be helpful, particularly in the stores, as we called out on the call as well as really IT around our digital business as well. So that would put you kind of in that $600 million OCF range, both of which will -- our free cash flow range, both of which will include the tariffs. So that's where I feel like we have a great positioning from a cash flow generation, which gave us the opportunity to reinstate the share buyback program, which we had mentioned on the call, first time since 2022. And hopefully, you see that as a strong confidence that we have as we continue to build this business as well as the cash flow generation that this business has brought us forth with, which has helped us be able to invest back in and really show that progressive improvement. I would say in terms of a prioritization, I'm looking at both. I mean, obviously, we had some opportunistic buys from a debt perspective. So we'll continue to watch how those our trading and take the opportunity at the discount and take advantage of that. But I wouldn't say we're prioritizing one or the other. I also think we have a big opportunity to take advantage of where our share price is as well and do a buyback here. So I would say from my perspective, we have room to do both. I wouldn't say that one is prioritized or the other. I just think that will be more opportunistic just based on where it's trading at. And then in terms of where I think we're going to end the year, I would say we think we need about $700 million. I've said that many times to run the business. We will probably be over that this year, I would say, just given the cash flow generation that we had in the tariffs. So I'd say that's probably be closer to $800 million to $900 million in how we end the year depending on how opportunistic we are in the market from a debt perspective. We've also mentioned to you, we have the debt coming due in 2030 that is a non-call too. So we will look opportunistically at that as well just given the high interest rates. So we may end the year with a little bit more cash holding on to that to make sure that we can address those debt levels into 2027 when the non-call period comes up. Tracy Kogan: And then your current trend in line with your guidance for the back half? Jill Timm: Sorry, I lost that one. I would say we feel very good with the trends. We wouldn't have guided the way we did if we weren't confident in that, Tracy. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Dana Telsey: As you think about your consumer, do you see your consumer -- are they -- compared to last quarter, are they healthier, the same? What changes have you seen in the consumer profile of your core consumer? And then when you think about inventory level planning for the back half, I think inventories were down 3% this quarter. How are you planning inventory levels going forward? And it was very impressive with the positive comp that home drove. Anything we should be watching for in home? And then when you mentioned Jewelry and Impulse as growth drivers for accessories, how are those performing? Is the sequential improvement? And are there any other categories and accessories that we should be watching? Michael Bender: Thanks for your questions, Dana. I'll take the first one around the consumer. I would say that the consumer is in a similar place as where we saw them in the first quarter, serving a middle-to-lower income customer who is -- and you've heard me describe it this way in the past of family sitting around the kitchen table trying to make life work, gas prices, food, heating bills, things like that, that need to be taken care of as essential components of the cost structure that a family has. And then after that, making sure that they have enough left over to continue to run their household. And that's where we are leaning in heavily to value and making sure that all of our efforts are geared toward making sure that value is a part of what we offer, convenience in terms of the access, whether it's in the store or online. And then when a customer does choose to come see us that they have an inspiring experience as well. So we've done some work around making sure that the in-store experience has been enhanced, and we'll continue to do that through the balance of the year. I don't necessarily see that sentiment from a consumer perspective changing very much in the coming months as we move through the holiday time frame. And that's why, as Jill mentioned, we set our plan up to make sure that we would be able to have the flexibility to be competitive as we move through this current Back-to-School season and as we head toward holiday, which we know is typically a competitive season, and we expect that to be the case going forward. So, we're staying close to the consumer sentiment. We understand their positioning and their mindset, and we're bringing value everywhere we can to make sure that we're meeting them where they need to be met. Jill Timm: And then I think, Dana, from an inventory level perspective, as you called out, we're down 3%. We're going to expect to run the business down low-single digits in the back half of the year from an inventory perspective. We think that's the right place to continue to try to drive top line, but also get a little bit more productivity out of that inventory from a churn perspective. I think from a line of business perspective, I'll let Michael also chime in here. I think we feel really pleased with home. I think 2 things that lagged us last year. One was small electrics, which we had to buy down because of tariffs. We don't have to do that this year, and we're seeing really good news coming out of that SharkNinja anything with innovation really working well for us. And then the second category, as we mentioned, was Home Decor. Last year, Harvest and Halloween were the first categories really impacted by tariffs. So the buys were impacted as we were in and out of the market. We set that early, and we're starting to see strong sell-throughs out of that product, and we're very confident as we move into holiday decor products as well. So we think those are both big opportunities from a Home perspective as we move into the back half of the year. And then Jewelry just seems to be something that continues to trend incredibly well with our customers. As you know, we had gotten rid of our fine Jewelry, our core customer, that Kohl's customer told us they wanted it back. We've brought it back in. It's worked well, and we're expanding that now to 350 additional stores this fall. But on top of that, just really our Fashion Jewelry, we've given it a home behind our Sephora pad and brought Accessories together and really launching and elevating those fixtures has worked well for us. So seeing some goodness coming out of Fashion and Bridge as well. We're seeing anything really like with personalization and sentiment doing well in that category. So we do expect, as we move into holidays, jewelry gifting is a big portion of our business. So we think we can really lean into that category and drive some additional sales there. So those are the 2 big categories. I'd say accessories in general, just outperforming. You can see when you look at accessories without Sephora, we're up that mid-single digits. So really a category that's trending well, and we'll continue to drive that through our inventory buys and placement in the back half of the year. Michael Bender: And Dana, the only other thing I would add on to what Jill said from a category perspective would be in our kids' business, our kids' area of Toys would be a big driver for us during the back half of the year as well. We've made significant inventory investment there across the box. The Toy Towers where we have items under $10 also are underpinning this idea around value. And that's an area that we've seen some strong growth in this year and want to continue that momentum with the buys and the inventory investment that we've made behind that particular category. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Bob Drbul with BTIG. Robert Drbul: Just 2 questions for me, really. The first one is, when you look at the trends in Sephora, where do you think that is going? I think as you look into the back half of the year and even say declining, this is sort of a bit of a change, right, in the marketplace. I guess the second question I have is, can you also just talk about traffic trends, what you're seeing with traffic? I think it was slightly negative this quarter. But if you can just talk through that, that would be helpful for us. Michael Bender: Sure. Thanks for the question, Bob. I'll take the first one, and Jill can take the second. As far as Sephora is concerned, what I would tell you is that we're in a cycle where a handful of major brands have experienced expanded distribution. We still have a robust pipeline of existing new brands and just not big enough at this point because they haven't scaled to offset the softness that we're seeing from some of those much larger, well-established brands. So our focus with Sephora is really on selling these new brands that are coming through because we still have a robust pipeline, like I said, focusing on newness. We think in the back half of the year, in particular, that the gifting expansion that we have outlined for our stores will be helpful in terms of driving that business. We have holiday outposts going to 130 stores and the gift sets, like I said, will really resonate. We've also added Sephora, some Sephora items into the queue line, activity. So those are the things that we're focused on. This is a cycle that happens within the beauty business, and we're just at a point right now, like I said, where that expanded distribution means that some of these large established brands that we've had in our portfolio for a while, our customers have more access to those brands. We'll build these new items and new brands coming through. And as they scale, that will help to offset. We want to be realistic, and that's why I said in the earlier commentary that what we're seeing right now would suggest that the performance that we've seen with Sephora will continue along the same path that we've seen through the first half of the year. Jill Timm: And then in terms of traffic, Bob, what I would say is that we talked about ATV and traffic both being slightly down in the quarter. And I would say slightly down is probably the best performance we've seen in traffic in some time. I want to say almost until 2019. This is our best traffic performance from a quarter perspective. So really seeing traffic be an enabler of the progress. I think part of that is our Kohl's Card customer was not giving us all of the footsteps they were previously giving us. So Kohl's charge being up one definitely comes with more trips into our store as they shop us more frequently. So benefiting from that perspective, but really feeling great about the traffic improvement that we saw. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Binetti with Evercore ISI. Michael Binetti: I guess just a few on the guidance. The high end of the range for the back half embeds maybe, call it, 25 basis points of operating margin improvement on a little less than a plus 1 comp, call it. That would be the best comp we've seen in a while from you at the high end, and you've been leveraging operating margins on negative comps for a long time. Is there some embedded level of reinvestment that you would start to put into play if you did start to turn a corner on the comps in the second half? Maybe just walk us through if there's a punch list. And then on -- because you just mentioned traffic versus ticket, I'm curious on -- given some of the changes in opening price point and the success you're having on proprietary brands and facing into some more of that, improving availability there, how you're thinking about traffic versus ticket build in the second half? And sorry to ask a third one here, but we've heard from some of the mass retailers, they expect deflation in some of these core categories in the second half. Have you -- as you think about ticket in the back half, have you seen any of that in the competitive set? And maybe what's important to consider if we do enter a period of persistent inflation that some of us -- or deflation, sorry, that some of us remember from a few years ago? Jill Timm: I'll try and hit all of these, Michael. I think from a -- yes, no problem. I think from a back half comp perspective, we have leveraged incredibly well. One of the things I did mention is we are going to invest though some of these tariffs into media and store payroll because we see the payback. So I would say the investments we're making both in price in media, in-store payroll. We're doing that because we think there's a return to be had off of those, which should help generate top-line growth. If we're not seeing that, then that's when we'll make adjustments accordingly. But I think there is going to be, I think, a lot of promotional activity in the market, and we need to make sure we're being competitive. So that's starting one. But two is then we need to make sure that we're informing our customers through the media side and then really ensuring they have a great experience, whether that be digitally or within the stores from a store payroll perspective. And so those are the places that we feel will drive top line and we'll get the return out of. And we have a lot of testing that gives us confidence in those investments and the top-line return that we'll be getting. I think from an opening price point perspective, I mentioned our ATV was down slightly in the quarter. I haven't said that for some time that we've been talking because we had always kind of seen the ticket moving up. We are seeing people trade into the opening price point, as you mentioned, into proprietary brands. It's where we're making our investment from an inventory expectations perspective. And we know that, that's where the customer, they're stretched and they're making those trade-offs. They're buying into our proprietary brands like Tek Gear and Active because it's a little bit more within their budget as their budgets are being stretched. So we did see that trade-off happening. We saw the AUR coming down, the UPT is coming up, but not enough right now to offset it completely, which is why it was down slightly. As we move into the back half of the year, I would expect that to continue, especially given the investments we're making in price and the investments we're making in the proprietary brand portfolio. I think I hit all of them. Did I miss one? Michael Binetti: Deflation from some of the mass competitors. Jill Timm: Yes. I wouldn't say we're seeing that yet, but I think we'll be prepared, and I think that's where we gave ourselves room from a margin perspective, how we're using the tariffs to invest back in. So we will be competitive from that perspective. So we start seeing that, we will react accordingly. But I think right now, we're just seeing that shift down, but what we need is more units in the transaction. And a lot of things we've laid out in our strategy is driving that Impulse, Deal Bars, the under $10 deals, the Toy Towers. I mean we just talked about Back-to-School. We have thousands of items under $25. So everything we're trying to do right now is drive value, but get more in that basket and making sure that they leave satisfied from everything they're looking for, which is why we're also investing back into depth around Trip Assurance. Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Kohl's, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Kohl's wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $440,710!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,335,252!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 978% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 213% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 31, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Kohl's (KSS) Q2 2027 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Kohl’s has struggled to reboot its business, despite being a value player in a market where consumers are looking for deals. “The fact that comparable sales remain in decline — the eighteenth consecutive quarter when they have dipped — does not convince us that Kohl’s is a business in full recovery,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders told Market Screener, adding that Kohl’s is still losing market share across major categories. CEO Michael Bender, however, believes his company has performed well, given the current operating environment. “We are operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment where our customers are experiencing persistent financial pressures from inflation in their everyday expenses like gas and food. While their day-to-day priorities may change, the consumer is consistently looking for value, a compelling assortment, and an inspiring experience. The work we have underway is focused on addressing each of these customer priorities,” he said during the chain’s second-quarter earnings call. Now, Kohl’s has made a major move to draw consumer attention by partnering with two huge names in the lifestyle world, Bobby Flay and Martha Stewart. Kohl’s is introducing new Martha Stewart kitchen appliances and home fragrance in all stores nationwide and on Kohls.com, alongside updated Bobby Flay cookware arriving this fall. “Designed for everyday cooking and entertaining, the new Martha Stewart appliances combine elevated design, practical functionality, and everyday value,” the company shared in a press release. The lineup, which is available now, includes core kitchen electrics, including mixers, griddles, slow cookers, and milk frothers, as well as kettles, toasters, and a Kohl’s-exclusive coffee maker. This fall, Kohl’s will also introduce an exclusive pomegranate colorway across select products, including the hand mixer, stand mixer, and slow cooker, arriving in time for the holidays. More Retail: Home Depot is making a big bet on cautious consumers Another state just banned a controversial retail pricing practice JPMorgan just flagged a slow-build food crisis Beyond kitchen electrics, the Martha Stewart lineup is also expanding into home fragrance with a new collection of candles. The retailer will also expand its relationship with Food Network personality Flay. “Known for bringing restaurant-inspired cooking to home kitchens, the Bobby Flay collection is growing this September to include multi-piece stainless steel and ceramic cookware sets, along with individual frying pans designed for even heating and easy cleanup,” the company shared. Wharton marketing professor Barbara Kahn, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative, explained how partnering with celebrities can help retailers. “Retailers are in a difficult situation right now because the price of cotton is going up, as are labor and operating costs. But with private labels, they have many more pricing options and much more control over their brands,” she told Knowledge at Wharton. “Attach a celebrity name to an exclusive store brand, and retailers get all that dazzle and panache along with all the profits. It’s a way to create excitement in the store, and make it special.” Stephen Hoch, a Wharton marketing professor, thinks that these types of deals have grown in importance for retailers. “This is just one of the ways we’re seeing that branding is more important than it used to be,” he said. “What is new is that retailers are doing it more often, and these exclusive lines represent a higher percentage of their sales than they ever have before.” Related: Forget roller dogs, 7-Eleven upgrades its pizza Partnering with a famous name, however, does not guarantee success. “First, the failure rate of celebrity brands remains high, often due to misalignments, consumer apathy, and other psychological patterns…. These failures incur financial and imagery losses as well as potential consumer backlash against celebrities and retailers that carry celebrity brands,” according to the academic paper “Star power on the shelf: the spillover effects of celebrity brand – retailer relationships on consumer evaluations of retailers Open Access.” RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks these deals can work, but notes that they come with significant downside. “The risk is simple: celebrity names are a short-term traffic bump, not a long-term turnaround. Slapping a famous chef on a toaster gets people through the door once, but if the rest of the store still feels like a dated department store, those shoppers aren’t coming back for round two,” he told TheStreet. Having unique offerings, however, has been a source of growth for Kohl’s. “Our proprietary brands increased 3% in the second quarter. Over the past year, we’ve made significant progress enhancing our proprietary offerings, receiving a strong, positive customer response. We have driven major improvements by delivering exceptional value and increasing inventory depth by 6% to support better product availability,” Bender said during Kohl’s Q2 earnings call. ALSO READ: Biggest sports bar chain closes locations before football season This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Kohl's Corporation KSS delivered a much stronger second-quarter profit result than investors expected and raised its full-year earnings outlook. The earnings improvement shifts attention to what can carry into the second half.That question matters because Kohl's sales and income are typically weighted toward back-to-school and holiday demand. Better merchandising and cost control now have to translate into steadier sales without depending on temporary margin benefits. Kohl's reported adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share, up 128.6% from 56 cents a year earlier. The result topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents.Total revenues declined 0.9% to $3.52 billion and narrowly missed the $3.516 billion consensus estimate. Net sales and comparable sales also fell 0.9%, showing that the earnings beat was much stronger than the top-line performance. Kohl's Corporation revenue-quarterly | Kohl's Corporation Quote Gross margin expanded 305 basis points to 43%. Kohl's received about $150 million of International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds, with roughly $100 million benefiting cost of merchandise sold.The refund was a meaningful part of the quarter's margin improvement, making underlying execution important to watch. Target Corporation TGT said its second-quarter results included $994 million of pretax tariff refund benefits, while Walmart Inc. WMT said its fiscal second-quarter adjusted operating income growth in constant currency included a 750-basis-point net benefit from tariff refunds. Kohl's raised adjusted earnings guidance to $1.80-$2.40 per share from $1.00-$1.60. Adjusted operating-margin guidance increased to 3.5%-4% from 2.8%-3.4%.The sales outlook improved more modestly. Management now expects net sales and comparable sales to range from flat to down 1.5%, versus its prior forecast for a decline of up to 2%. The updated guidance includes the benefit of the second-quarter tariff refunds. Management is increasing proprietary-brand inventory and reinvesting in women's boots and footwear. It is also adding Sephora newness in fragrance, haircare and skincare ahead of key seasonal periods.Digital initiatives add another execution lever. Kohl's is expanding same-day delivery, using store pickup capabilities and adding Klarna ahead of the holiday season, while merchandising changes are aimed at improving inventory depth and in-stock consistency. Free cash flow rose to $332 million from $306 million in the first six months. Cash and cash equivalents reached $821 million, while long-term debt declined to $1.33 billion from $1.52 billion and revolver borrowings fell to zero. Kohl's Corporation total-long-term-debt-quarterly | Kohl's Corporation Quote That balance-sheet improvement supports a broad capital plan. Kohl's expects $350-$400 million of capital expenditures, remains committed to a 50-cent annual dividend and is restarting share repurchases of up to $100 million in fiscal 2026. The bottom line is that Kohl's second-quarter beat improves the earnings setup, but the holiday season is the tougher test. Sustainable progress depends on better merchandise execution and sales stabilization after separating the tariff-refund benefit from reported margins.KSS currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), along with a VGM Score of A, Value Score of A, Growth Score of B and Momentum Score of C. The top Rank and A/B Style Scores are favorable in the Zacks stock-selection framework, while the Momentum Score of C is less supportive. The mix supports a constructive near-term view without removing the execution risk tied to the second half. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kohl's Corporation (KSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Bath & Body Works, Inc. BBWI posted second-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of 62 cents per share, up 67.6% year over year. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 24 cents per share. Net sales fell 2.3% year over year to $1,514 million but topped the consensus mark of $1,499 million.About $80 million in tariff refunds boosted results, while the underlying business improved sequentially. Direct sales returned to growth for the first time since 2021, product innovation gained traction and expanded distribution advanced, offering early proof points from the Consumer First Formula. Sales per average selling square foot fell 6.8% to $206. The company also raised its fiscal 2026 outlook. As a result, BBWI shares gained 7.5% yesterday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Bath & Body Works, Inc. Quote Net sales for Stores - United States and Canada declined 5.4% year over year to $1.13 billion, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.15 billion. Lower clearance inventory entering the June semiannual sale created about one point of sales pressure across categories, while store traffic remained pressured.Direct - United States and Canada sales increased 3% to $275 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $258.9 million and was supported by improved digital conversion. International and Other sales jumped 24.9% to $108 million, topping the consensus estimate of $89.5 million and aided by expanded domestic wholesale distribution and higher international product sales. Within North America, Body Care declined in the mid-single digits, Home Fragrance fell in the low-single digits and Soaps & Sanitizers were flat. Fruit Fusion and Everyday Luxuries supported sequential improvement in Body Care. Gross profit increased 8.1% year over year to $692 million, while the gross margin expanded 440 basis points to 45.7%. About $80 million of tariff refunds contributed roughly 530 basis points to merchandise margin. Excluding the benefit, gross margin would have been 40.4%, down 90 basis points. Adjusted earnings excluding the refund would have been 31 cents per share, above the high end of management’s prior guidance.Adjusted selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were flat at $467 million, while the rate increased 60 basis points to 30.8%. Adjusted operating income rose 30.4% to $225 million, with the adjusted operating margin expanding 370 basis points to 14.8%. Mix-adjusted average unit retail was flat. Bath & Body Works ended the fiscal second quarter with 1,937 company-operated North American stores. During the quarter, it opened 24 stores, primarily off-mall and closed 10, primarily in malls. Company-operated selling square footage reached 5.521 million square feet.International partners operated 596 locations at quarter-end after opening 17 stores during the period. Amazon net sales more than tripled sequentially from the fiscal first quarter, while the company launched at roughly 600 Ulta Beauty stores. Management completed a merchandising reset across its full store fleet. The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $794 million, up from $364 million a year earlier. Inventories declined 9.6% year over year to $883 million, while long-term debt fell to $3.37 billion from $3.89 billion.Year-to-date operating cash flow increased to $316 million from $145 million. Capital expenditures totaled $98 million in the first half. Bath & Body Works paid $40 million in dividends during the quarter and redeemed $250 million of its 2029 notes on Aug. 19. For the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Bath & Body Works expects net sales to decline 5-2.5% from $1,594 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings are projected at 7-12 cents per share compared with adjusted earnings of 35 cents a year ago. Earnings per share is expected to be in the range of 5 cents to 10 cents compared with 37 cents reported in the year-ago period. The company expects a gross profit rate of about 40% and the SG&A rate of about 34.8%. Roughly 70% of the approximately $35 million incremental Consumer First Formula investment is planned for the fiscal third quarter, primarily for marketing ahead of the holiday season. Bath & Body Works narrowed its fiscal 2026 net sales guidance to a decline of 4-2.5% from $7,291 million in fiscal 2025 compared with the prior range of down 4.5-2.5%. Adjusted earnings guidance was raised to $2.60-$2.80 per share from $2.40-$2.65 compared with $3.21 in fiscal 2025. The company has raised its fiscal 2026 earnings per share guidance to $3.13-$3.33 compared with $3.11 in fiscal 2025.The adjusted gross profit rate is expected to be about 43.3%, while the adjusted SG&A rate is forecasted at roughly 29.6%. Fuel for Growth savings are projected at about $200 million, above the prior $175 million target. Free cash flow is expected at approximately $650 million, up from $600 million, while capital expenditure guidance was reduced to about $240 million from $270 million. BBWI Stock Past Three-Month Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 7.2% over the past three months compared with the industry’s 5.1% decline. We have highlighted three better-ranked stocks, namely, Victoria's Secret & Co. VSXY, Kohl’s Corporation KSS and Five Below, Inc. FIVE.Victoria's Secret is a specialty retailer of women's intimates, sleepwear, apparel, sport and swimwear, and prestige fragrances and body care. It currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VSXY’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings indicates growth of 9.1% and 56.7%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 81.9%, on average. Kohl’s offers moderately priced apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men and children, along with beauty and home products. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Kohl’s current fiscal-year earnings and sales suggests declines of 14.8% and 0.9%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. KSS delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 69%.Five Below is a Pennsylvania-based specialty value retailer offering trend-right merchandise priced mostly at $5 and below, with a select range priced above $5. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Five Below’s current fiscal-year earnings and sales indicates growth of 36.7% and a decline of 15.1%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. FIVE delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 70.1%. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Kohl's Corporation (KSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Five Below, Inc. (FIVE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Victoria's Secret & Co. (VSXY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Interested in Kohl's Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better. Comparable sales declined 0.9% in Q2 fiscal 2026, an improvement from prior trends, while net income reached $151 million, or $1.28 per diluted share. Digital sales, proprietary brands, home, toys and Kohl’s Card sales were areas of strength, though Sephora sales fell 4%. Kohl’s raised its full-year outlook after receiving approximately $150 million in tariff refunds, now forecasting comparable sales between down 1.5% and flat and adjusted EPS of $1.80 to $2.40. The retailer strengthened its balance sheet, ending the quarter with $821 million in cash and no borrowings under its credit facility. It resumed share repurchases, plans to buy back about $100 million of stock in 2026, and continues expanding Marketplace, digital fulfillment and customer-experience initiatives. MarketBeat Week in Review – 06/01 - 06/05 Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) reported a 0.9% decline in comparable sales during its second quarter of fiscal 2026, an improvement from earlier trends, as the retailer highlighted gains in proprietary brands, Kohl's Card sales, home, toys and digital. The company also raised its full-year outlook after receiving approximately $150 million in tariff refunds. Chief Executive Officer Michael Bender said the quarter represented “another improvement in our comparable sales trend,” while operational discipline in expenses and inventory management strengthened the retailer's balance sheet and cash generation. He said Kohl's continues to serve consumers facing pressure from inflation in everyday costs such as gas and food, increasing the importance of value, relevant assortments and convenient shopping experiences. → What Rising Delivery Forecasts Say About Rivian's Stock Prospects Kohl's Stock Soars After Better-Than-Feared Quarter For the second quarter, Kohl's posted net income of $151 million, or $1.28 per diluted share. Year-to-date net income totaled $137 million, or $1.18 per diluted share. Chief Financial Officer Jill Timm said gross margin improved 305 basis points in the quarter, though roughly $100 million of the tariff refunds benefited cost of merchandise sold. Excluding the tariff effect, gross margin would have increased about 5 basis points, in line with the company's guidance. Store sales declined 2% in the quarter, while digital sales increased 2.8%. Kohl's Card sales rose more than 1%, continuing a recovery that management attributed to targeted efforts to reengage loyalty customers as well as the return and expansion of categories and proprietary offerings. Timm said credit revenue, which declined 1% in the quarter, is now expected to track more closely with the company’s top-line performance rather than lag it. → NVIDIA Reveals $21 Billion SpaceX Stake: Signal of Confidence or Circular Financing? Dillard’s Posted a Huge Earnings Beat—So Why Did the Rally Fade? Proprietary-brand sales increased 3%, supported by higher inventory depth and customer response to Kohl's value-oriented brands. However, management said women’s proprietary-brand performance was constrained after stronger-than-expected early-quarter sell-throughs left the company unable to replenish inventory quickly enough. Kohl's pulled forward fall receipts and made a larger inventory investment for the back half of the year. Among categories, home delivered 1% sales growth, led by decor and small electrics. The company cited strength in brands including Shark, Ninja, KitchenAid and GreenPan. Kids was flat, though toys grew at a double-digit rate, driven by Lego, KPop Demon Hunters and value-focused toy displays. Juniors increased 10%, led by the SO brand and new product introductions. → Berkshire Boosts Its Bet: This AI Hyperscaler Is Now a Top-3 Holding Accessories were flat overall, but increased by the mid-single digits excluding Sephora at Kohl’s. Jewelry rose by the mid-single digits, and Kohl's plans to add 350 fine-jewelry case lines in the fourth quarter, bringing the total to 549 stores. It will also install elevated fashion-jewelry fixtures in 320 stores by November. Sephora at Kohl’s sales declined 4%. Bender said expanded distribution of several major brands pressured results, while newer brands have not yet reached enough scale to offset those declines. Kohl’s expects the softer Sephora performance to continue through the rest of the year, although it plans new launches across fragrance, haircare and skincare, as well as holiday outposts in 130 stores. Inventory declined approximately 3% from a year earlier, while receipts increased 7% in the quarter to support categories such as toys, jewelry and juniors. Kohl's reduced choice count by the mid-teens while increasing inventory depth by the mid-single digits. The company expects year-end inventory to be down by low single digits. Kohl's Marketplace grew 88% year over year in the second quarter. Timm said that including Marketplace gross merchandise value, comparable sales would have declined only 0.2%, rather than 0.9%. The retailer is more than doubling its marketplace product and vendor selection this year to expand category coverage, address inventory gaps and support seasonal demand. The company is also investing in its store and digital experiences. Store pickup now represents more than 20% of digital demand, while Kohl’s expanded same-day delivery through Instacart and launched a DoorDash partnership in July. Management said customers using its AI shopping assistant are showing higher conversion and revenue per visit, though adoption remains small. Kohl’s said it is modernizing its digital platform, with most core customer journeys now moved to the new system. It also plans to add Klarna payment options ahead of the holiday season. Kohl's ended the quarter with $821 million in cash and cash equivalents and no borrowings under its asset-based lending facility. Timm said the company’s net cash position improved by more than $700 million from a year earlier. The retailer repurchased $63 million of long-term debt during the quarter at a $6 million discount. Year to date, it has repurchased $113 million of debt at a $15 million discount. Kohl’s expects operating cash flow of roughly $950 million to $1 billion for the year and capital expenditures of $350 million to $400 million. The company resumed share repurchases for the first time since 2022, planning to buy back approximately $100 million of stock in 2026 under its existing $3 billion authorization. It also returned $14 million through its quarterly dividend during the second quarter. Comparable sales guidance: down 1.5% to flat versus 2025 Adjusted operating margin guidance: 3.5% to 4% Adjusted diluted EPS guidance: $1.80 to $2.40, including about $0.65 from tariff refunds Timm said the updated outlook excludes any future tariff refunds. The company plans to use the current refund proceeds to support value-oriented pricing, opening-price-point proprietary brands, media spending and store staffing. Kohl’s also announced leadership changes, including the appointment of Elliott Rodgers as chief operating officer effective Sept. 9 and Arian Parisi to the newly created role of chief customer officer. Kohl's Corporation, founded in 1962 by Maxwell Kohl and headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is a leading American department store retailer. The company operates approximately 1,100 stores across 49 states, offering a combination of value-oriented pricing, private-label brands and national labels. Since its initial public offering in 1992, Kohl's has focused on broadening its product assortment and enhancing the in-store and online shopping experience. The retailer's merchandise portfolio spans apparel, footwear, accessories, and beauty products for women, men and children, as well as home goods, kitchenware and seasonal décor. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Kohl's Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

Kohl's Corporation KSS posted adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up 128.6% from 56 cents a year ago. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents per share.Total revenues fell 0.9% year over year to $3,515 million and narrowly missed the consensus estimate of $3,516 million. The company’s net sales fell 0.9% to $3,318 million, while other revenues fell 1% to $197 million. Comparable sales were down 0.9% year over year. We expected comparable sales to decrease 0.9%. Kohl's Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Kohl's Corporation Quote This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company’s gross margin expanded 305 basis points year over year to 43%. Kohl's received about $150 million of IEEPA tariff refunds during the quarter, with roughly $100 million benefiting cost of merchandise sold. A portion of the refund was also recorded as a reduction of inventory, shared with vendors and invested to deliver greater value to customers.SG&A expenses declined 0.9% to $1,188 million and remained flat at 33.8% of total revenues. We anticipated SG&A expenses to be 33.7% of total revenues. Operating income decreased to $261 million, down from $279 million in the prior year. Operating margin was 7.4%, reflecting a decrease of 45 bps year over year. KSS ended the quarter with $821 million in cash and cash equivalents, up from $174 million a year earlier. Merchandise inventories declined 3% to $2,913 million, while long-term debt fell to $1,325 million from $1,520 million. The company also had no borrowings under its revolving credit facility at quarter-end.For the first six months, net cash provided by operating activities was $478 million compared with $506 million a year ago. Free cash flow rose to $332 million from $306 million, while adjusted free cash flow increased to $288 million from $270 million. The company is restarting share repurchases of up to $100 million in 2026 under its existing $3 billion authorization. On Aug. 18, 2026, Kohl’s declared a quarterly cash dividend of 12.50 cents per share, payable on Sept. 23, to its shareholders of record as of Sept. 9. Kohl's now expects fiscal 2026 net sales and comparable sales to range from flat to down 1.5%, compared with its prior outlook for a decline of up to 2%. Adjusted operating margin is projected at 3.5-4%, up from the earlier forecast of 2.8-3.4%, while adjusted earnings are forecasted at $1.80-$2.40 per share, compared with the previous outlook of a $1.00-$1.60 range. The company’s shares have gained 33% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 12.3%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Target Corporation TGT offers guests fashionable, differentiated merchandise and everyday essentials at discounted prices. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Target’s current financial-year sales and EPS indicates growth of 4.6% and 37.7%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. TGT delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.5%, on average.Five Below, Inc. FIVE operates as a specialty value retailer in the United States and currently holds a Zacks Rank #2. FIVE delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 70.1%, on average.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Five Below’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings calls for growth of 15.1% and 36.7%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. Dollar General Corporation DG is one of the largest discount retailers in the United States, selling low-priced merchandise, typically $10 or less. The company currently has a Zacks Rank of 2. DG delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21%, on average.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Dollar General’s current financial-year sales and EPS is expected to rise 3.9% and 7.6%, respectively, from the year-ago reported figures. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kohl's Corporation (KSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Dollar General Corporation (DG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Five Below, Inc. (FIVE) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Kohl's (KSS) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.55 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.56 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +132.73%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this department store operator would post a loss of $0.18 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.13, delivering a surprise of +27.78%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Kohl's, which belongs to the Zacks Retail - Regional Department Stores industry, posted revenues of $3.52 billion for the quarter ended July 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.02%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $3.55 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Kohl's shares have lost about 13.4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.2%. While Kohl's has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Kohl's was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.05 on $3.54 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.38 on $15.38 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Retail - Regional Department Stores is currently in the top 14% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. One other stock from the same industry, Macy's (M), is yet to report results for the quarter ended July 2026. The results are expected to be released on September 10. This department store operator is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.37 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -9.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Macy's' revenues are expected to be $4.82 billion, up 0.2% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kohl's Corporation (KSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Macy's, Inc. (M) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Kohl's (KSS) heads into its second quarter earnings report today with attention on recent partnerships and merchandising moves, including Martha Stewart kitchen electrics and expanded on demand delivery through DoorDash. Despite new partnerships and merchandising efforts, Kohl's share price has been under pressure in the short term, with a 1-day share price return of a 3.39% decline and a 7-day share price return of a 5.45% decline. At the same time, the 90-day share price return of a 36.74% gain alongside a 1-year total shareholder return of 39.80% suggests momentum built earlier in the year that is now being tested as investors weigh the incoming earnings report, the Martha Stewart rollout, the DoorDash tie up, dividend continuity and the recent Chief Customer Officer appointment. Compare Kohl's earnings setup and recent partnerships with other retailers by scanning a curated group of 49 high quality undervalued stocks showing similar momentum and quality signals. Bulls see Kohl's recent Martha Stewart and DoorDash moves as fresh fuel for a potential turnaround. Bears point to mixed recent returns and past revenue pressure. Which case lines up better with where the stock is currently priced? Kohl's last closed at $17.68, a touch above the most followed fair value estimate of $17.46 that is built using a 12.33% discount rate. Read the complete narrative. Read the complete narrative. Want to know why this fair value barely edges above today’s Kohl's share price? The narrative leans on subdued revenue, thinner margins, and a higher future earnings multiple. Curious which specific earnings path and valuation assumptions hold that all together? Result: Fair Value of $17.46 (OVERVALUED) Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts. However, there is still a chance that Kohl's proprietary brands and the Sephora rollout will draw in higher-spending customers, which could challenge this cautious fair value view. Find out about the key risks to this Kohl's narrative. The analyst narrative pegs Kohl's at about 1% overvalued against a $17.46 fair value, yet other models tell a different story. On earnings, the stock trades on a P/E of 7.3x compared with a Multiline Retail industry average of 19.9x and a peer average of 26.2x. The fair ratio is 11.8x, which is closer to where the P/E could move over time. That gap suggests meaningful valuation risk if earnings underwhelm, but also scope for rerating if results hold up. Which side of that trade feels more realistic to you? For a closer look at how this earnings based view stacks up against peers and the fair ratio, See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown. This mix of caution and optimism around Kohl's can feel finely balanced, so it helps to see the full picture and move quickly to form your own stance. To weigh both sides of the story in one place, start with the 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs If Kohl's has you thinking more broadly about your portfolio, now is a good moment to widen the lens using a few focused stock idea lists. Target consistent income potential by reviewing 12 dividend fortresses that could help anchor your returns when markets feel choppy. Strengthen your downside protection by scanning the 74 resilient stocks with low risk scores that aim to keep risk scores in check. Get ahead of the crowd by assessing the 18 high quality undiscovered gems before they land on everyone else's radar. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include KSS. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Kohl’s Corporation will release earnings for its second quarter before the opening bell on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of 57 cents per share, up from 56 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Kohl’s quarterly revenue is $3.34 billion. It reported $3.35 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro. Ahead of quarterly earnings, JP Morgan analyst Matthew Boss, on Aug. 18, maintained Kohl’s with an Underweight rating and raised the price target from $15 to $17. Don’t Miss: Think Your ‘Safe’ Stocks Protect You? You’re Ignoring the Real Growth Triggers — Here’s What to Add Now Caught With Nothing Saved for Retirement? These 5 Game‑Changing Tips Could Still Save You With the recent buzz around Kohl’s, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends too. As of now, Kohl’s has an annual dividend yield of 2.84%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 12.5 cents per share (50 cents a year). To figure out how to earn $500 monthly from Kohl’s, we start with the yearly target of $6,000 ($500 x 12 months). Next, we take this amount and divide it by Kohl’s $0.50 dividend: $6,000 / $0.50 = 12,000 shares. So, an investor would need to own approximately $211,200 worth of Kohl’s, or 12,000 shares to generate a monthly dividend income of $500. Assuming a more conservative goal of $100 monthly ($1,200 annually), we do the same calculation: $1,200 / $0.50 = 2,400 shares, or $42,240 to generate a monthly dividend income of $100. Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time. Trending: Think you’re saving enough for your kids? You might be dangerously off — see why The dividend yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend payment by the current stock price. As the stock price changes, the dividend yield will also change. For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and its current price is $50, its dividend yield would be 4%. However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield would decrease to 3.33% ($2/$60). Conversely, if the stock price decreases to $40, the dividend yield would increase to 5% ($2/$40). Further, the dividend payment itself can also change over time, which can also impact the dividend yield. If a company increases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will increase even if the stock price remains the same. Similarly, if a company decreases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will decrease. See Also: Still Learning the Market? These 50 Must-Know Terms Can Help You Catch Up Fast Photo via Shutterstock Read Next: A single bad hire can set a startup back years. Here are the 5 hires founders most often misjudge — and why Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry. Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly. As electricity demand accelerates alongside AI and domestic energy production becomes a growing priority, Frontieras is developing patented technology that converts coal into fuels, chemicals, and low-emission energy products without combustion. Through its Regulation A offering, investors can gain exposure to an emerging energy infrastructure company focused on modernizing American industrial and power resources. Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors, FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000 — fully managed, with no landlord headaches. Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio. Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth. As electricity demand rises alongside AI, data centers, and renewable energy, long-duration energy storage is becoming increasingly important. Qnetic is developing a kinetic energy storage system designed to provide long-lasting, chemical-free electricity storage, offering investors exposure to the infrastructure supporting a more resilient and reliable power grid. For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000, with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process. As artificial intelligence drives unprecedented demand for computing power, the infrastructure behind it is becoming just as important as the software itself. BluSky AI is developing modular, prefabricated data centers designed to bring AI compute capacity online faster than traditional builds, giving investors exposure to a critical layer of the rapidly expanding AI ecosystem through its Regulation A offering. © 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.