Kohl's Releases Modest Holiday Outlook

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Kohl's(KSS Quote) posted a 20% jump in its third-quarter profit, easily topping Wall Street's expectations.

During the quarter, Kohl's earned $193 million, or 63 cents a share, compared with $160 million, or 52 cents, in the year-ago period. Analysts expected the department store to earn 61 cents a share.

Kohl's sales increased 6.5% to $4.1 billion, while same-store sales grew 2.4%.

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Kohl's also announced that it foresees fourth-quarter earnings in the range of $1.14 to $1.24 a share. Analysts are calling for EPS of $1.23 a share.

But this outlook could be low-balled, Stifel Nicolaus Richard Jaffe said in a note, as Kohl's may hope to "under promise, and over deliver."

For the year, the company upped its outlook between $2.98 and $3.08 a share, from $2.59 to $2.70 a share.

On Monday, rival Macy's(M Quote) said it narrowed its loss in the third quarter, but its revised full-year outlook disappointed investors.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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