MW Kohl's stock enjoys meme-like rally as blowout earnings confirm turnaround has taken hold

By Tomi Kilgore

The strong results and stock surge come on Michael Bender's second day as official CEO, and as discount retailers are enjoying a rising sales tide

Kohl's stock sees a meme-like rally, but this time it's based on the fundamentals of a blowout earnings report.

Kohl's Corp. $(KSS)$ investors were enjoying a meme-like stock rally in early trading Tuesday, after the discount-store chain surprised investors by reporting a profit and a big sales beat, as consumers continued to hunt for bargains.

The strong results come on a day after the retailer named Michael Bender as its official chief executive, following a more than six-month period as interim CEO. They also helped confirm that its turnaround efforts are taking hold.

Bender was named interim CEO on May 1 after previous CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired for cause after less than four months on the job. Naming a new CEO seemed to provide the jolt the company needed, as it came about two weeks after the stock had closed at a 30-year low.

Discount retailers have been enjoying a wave of bargain hunting by shoppers - and not just those in the lower-income cohort who have been pressured by stubborn inflation and a softening labor market. Recent earnings reports from off-price and discount retailers, such as TJ Maxx parent TJX Cos. $(TJX)$ and Walmart Inc. $(WMT)$, showed that even consumers from higher-income households are looking to cut costs.

Read: Retailers try to downplay worries about lower-income shoppers, as bargains reign supreme.

Kohl's stock shot up 27.1% in recent premarket trading on Tuesday, putting it on track to open at a 13-month high. It was also headed for its biggest one-day gain since it rocketed 37.6% on July 22, 2025, when the stock was caught up in the latest meme-stock craze.

But Tuesday's rally was based on actual fundamentals. Net income fell 63.6% to $8 million, while adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, of 10 cents beat the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet for a per-share loss of 16 cents.

And while net sales declined 2.9% to $3.41 billion, they were above the FactSet consensus of $3.32 billion, marking the third-straight quarterly beat following a 13-quarter streak of misses. And the margin of the latest beat was the widest since the second quarter of 2021, according to FactSet data.

Comparable sales, or sales of stores open more than a year, were down 1.7% but beat the FactSet consensus of a 3.7% decline.

"These results are a direct reflection of the progress we are making against our 2025 initiatives, reinforcing our confidence as we continue to move in the right direction," Bender said.

For the full fiscal year, the company raised its guidance ranges for adjusted EPS to between $1.25 and $1.45 from between 50 cents and 80 cents; for sales growth to decline 3.5% to 4% from a decline of 5% to 6%; and for comparable sales to decrease 2.5% to 3% from a decrease of 4% to 5%.

Through Monday, Kohl's stock had climbed 12%, while the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT slipped less than 0.1% and the S&P 500 index SPX had advanced 14%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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November 25, 2025 08:37 ET (13:37 GMT)

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