Department store chain Kohl's Corp. (KSS), Thursday reported an 8.8% increase in December comparable sales helped by higher transactions per store, while fashion retailor Saks Inc. (SKS) reported a 9.9% increase in comps supported by a shift in designer clearance event. Taking cue from strong quarterly performance and other factors, Kohl's boosted its fourth quarter forecast, while Saks said it currently expects a fourth quarter decline in the mid-single digit range.
Kohl's which operate 1,059 stores said its total sales for the five-week ended January 2, 2010 increased 8.8% to $3.01 billion from $2.27 billion in the same period a year ago. On a comparable store basis, sales were up 4.7%, which is also the sixth consecutive in its tally of same-store sales increases. In October Kohl's comparable sales were up 1.4%.
Meanwhile, helped by a designer clearance event into December this year from November last year, New York-based Saks made a 11.1% increase in sales. For the month, sales were $393.6 million, compared to $354.4 million recorded in the prior-year period. In November comparable sales of Saks were down 26.1%. Saks operates 53 Saks Fifth Avenue stores. Commenting on the sales performance, Kevin Mansell, Kohl's president and chief executive officer said, "Our December results reflect consistent results as all of our lines of business and all regions achieved positive comparable sales increases."
And on evaluating sales increases from a regional perspective, Kohl's noted that its Southwest region led the business, as it has throughout most of 2009 and while assessing the same in a line-of-business perspective, Footwear and Accessories reported the strongest comparable store sales increases.
Woman's designer and "gold range" apparel, men's sportswear, women's shoes, and handbags were the strongest categories of the Saks Fifth Avenue stores during December, while weakest being fine jewelry, intimate apparel, men's contemporary apparel, men's accessories, and cosmetics. Saks Direct performed well for the month.
While maintaining their conservative spending, Kohl's also said it continue to see strong increases in transactions per store.
Quarter-to-date sales of Kohl's increased 8.2% to $4.88 billion from $4.52 billion in the year-ago quarter. On a comparable store basis, the increase was 4.2%.
Meanwhile, Saks, on a quarter-to-date basis, recorded a sales of $638.8 million, down 6.3% from $681.8 million in the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales were down 7.3% for the two-month period.
Quarter-to-date performance and assumption of a flat January comparable store sales also made Kohl's to raise its fourth quarter earnings guidance to $1.28 to $1.30 per share from $1.14 to $1.24 per share.
On average, eighteen analysts' polled by Thomson Reuters currently expects the company to earn $1.28 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically excludes one-time items.
Meanwhile, management of Saks estimates that its comparable store sales will decline in the mid-single digit range for the full fiscal fourth quarter. Prior year numbers have been adjusted to remove the sales of the company's discontinued Club Libby Lu operations.
Year-to-date sales of Kohl's increased 4.5% to $16.38 billion from $15.67 billion a year ago. On a comparable store basis, sales were up 0.2%. For the period, sales for Saks totaled $2.43 billion, down 14.8% from $2.86 billion recorded in the eleven months ended January 3, 2009. Comparable store sales were down 15.9%.
KSS is currently trading at $53.55, down $1.17 or 2.14%, on a volume of 1.86 million shares. In the last 52-week period, the stock traded in a range of $32.50 to $60.89, with a three-month average volume of 3.90 million shares.
SKS is currently trading at $7.28, down $0.15 or 2.02%, on a volume of 2.97 million shares. In the last-52 week period, the stock traded in the range of $1.50 to $7.72, with a three-month average volume of 4.96 million shares.
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