{"id":77863,"date":"2024-03-13T04:58:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T09:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/citi-lowers-kohls-shares-cites-sales-concerns-despite-q4-earnings-beat\/"},"modified":"2024-03-13T04:58:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T09:58:45","slug":"citi-lowers-kohls-shares-cites-sales-concerns-despite-q4-earnings-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/citi-lowers-kohls-shares-cites-sales-concerns-despite-q4-earnings-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Citi lowers Kohl&#8217;s shares, cites sales concerns despite Q4 earnings beat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"76\">\n<div id=\"imgCarousel\" class=\"imgCarousel\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Citi lowers Kohl's shares, cites sales concerns despite Q4 earnings beat\" id=\"carouselImage\" src=\"https:\/\/i-invdn-com.investing.com\/news\/LYNXMPEC0409P_L.jpg\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"text\">\u00a9 Reuters. <\/span><br \/>\n<i class=\"imgGrad\"><\/i>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Wednesday, Citi adjusted its outlook on Kohl&#8217;s Corp (NYSE:), reducing the retailer&#8217;s shares price target to $24 from the previous $27, while maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock. The revision follows Kohl&#8217;s fourth-quarter earnings, which surpassed expectations on earnings per share (EPS) due to improved gross margins and overhead cost management. However, concerns were raised regarding the company&#8217;s continuous sales struggle.<\/p>\n<p>Kohl&#8217;s reported a better-than-anticipated fourth-quarter EPS, attributed to enhanced gross margins and controlled selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&#038;A). Despite this, sales figures remained a point of concern. <\/p>\n<p>Kohl&#8217;s has projected a flat to 2% increase in comparable store sales for fiscal year 2024, an outlook that appears optimistic given the company&#8217;s recent performance, with comparable sales down 5% in fiscal year 2023 and 6% in fiscal year 2022. Citi&#8217;s analysis suggests a more conservative estimate, modeling a 0.5% decline in comparable sales.<\/p>\n<p>The retailer&#8217;s efforts to revitalize sales through various initiatives have yet to yield substantial results. Previous strategies such as accepting Amazon (NASDAQ:) returns and introducing Sephora shops within Kohl&#8217;s locations have not sufficiently countered broader sales declines across the store. <\/p>\n<p>Notably, the growth in the Sephora segment suggests that the rest of the store experienced an approximate 8% downturn. This indicates not only an absence of positive spillover to other categories but also a more significant decline than the overall comparable store sales prior to the Sephora partnership.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Kohl&#8217;s faced an unexpected setback in its credit segment. While the company has effectively managed expenses and inventory, driving profits remains challenging without a stronger contribution from sales. Citi&#8217;s commentary reflects skepticism about Kohl&#8217;s ability to meet its sales targets and suggests that the company&#8217;s initiatives may not be enough to reverse the trend of declining sales.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&#038;C.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 Reuters. On Wednesday, Citi adjusted its outlook on Kohl&#8217;s Corp (NYSE:), reducing the retailer&#8217;s shares price target to $24 from the previous $27, while maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock. The revision follows Kohl&#8217;s fourth-quarter earnings, which surpassed expectations on earnings per share (EPS) due to improved gross margins and overhead cost management. However, concerns were raised regarding the company&#8217;s continuous sales struggle. Kohl&#8217;s reported a better-than-anticipated fourth-quarter EPS, attributed to enhanced gross margins and controlled selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&#038;A). Despite this, sales figures remained a point of concern. Kohl&#8217;s has projected a flat to 2% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":77864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,49,50,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}