Kohl’s Corp. raised the company’s guidance for the year after reporting first-quarter earnings rose 14 percent on a 3.6 percent same-store gain.
Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chief executive officer, said, “We are very pleased with our strong start to fiscal 2018 as we continued to focus on our priorities of driving traffic and operational excellence. We built on our recent momentum and achieved our third consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, which increased on both a fiscal and a shifted basis. Further, we exceeded the high end of our margin expectations through continued focus on inventory management, while expenses were consistent with our expectations as we continue to make investments to ensure our long-term success. All of this enabled us to achieve adjusted earnings per share of $0.64 for the quarter, an increase of 65percent over last year.”
Loss on Extinguishment of Debt
As previously reported, the company completed a cash tender offer for $500 million of debt in the first quarter. In conjunction with the tender, the company reported a $42 million loss on extinguishment of debt.
Guidance Update
The company now expects adjusted fiscal 2018 diluted earnings per share to be $5.05 to $5.50, compared to its prior guidance of $4.95 to $5.45. Including the loss on extinguishment of debt, fiscal 2018 diluted earnings per share is expected to be $4.86 to $5.31.
