March 10 (Reuters) – Kohl’s on Tuesday forecast a steeper-than-expected fall in full-year sales, as new CEO Michael Bender said the retailer is “resetting” its foundation following several quarters of declines.
Shares of the company, which, however, reported a better-than-expected holiday-quarter profit, rose about 7% in early trading, reversing premarket losses. The company’s stock has fallen nearly 28% this year after gaining about 45% in 2025.
Kohl’s has struggled as muted U.S. discretionary spending and a series of merchandising missteps dampened demand, leaving the retailer losing ground to Amazon and off‑price competitors such as Ross Stores.
According to Placer.ai data, overall foot traffic at Kohl’s during the three-month period from October was down 5%, while it rose 11.9% at Ross Stores.
“It’s not surprising that Kohl’s lost share around the holiday period,” said David Swartz, an analyst with Morningstar, adding that the company still struggles to get the right merchandise to draw shoppers away from discount competitors.
“These are long-term trends that we have seen with department stores – they just don’t have the relevance that they once did,” Swartz said.
In November, the company named retail veteran Michael Bender as its permanent CEO to lead a turnaround after years of sliding sales and shrinking profit amid churn at the top.
Bender said that fourth-quarter revenue came in softer than expected.
“We are ending 2025 in a stronger position than we started, with important work still ahead of us. Over the past year, our efforts have been focused on resetting our foundation,” he added.
Kohl’s expects full-year sales to be flat to 2% lower, compared with analysts’ estimates of a 0.7% decline to $14.85 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The midpoint of its annual adjusted profit forecast range of $1.00 to $1.60 per share came in below estimates of $1.39.
It posted quarterly sales of $4.97 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $5.03 billion.
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
