Kohl's Shares Jump on Strong Back-to-School Sales

Department store operator Kohl's reported better-than-expected quarterly net sales, helped by strong back-to-school sales, sending the company's shares up 11 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.

Kohl's same-store sales rose 1 percent in the third quarter, in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix.

A surprise drop in comparable sales in the quarter at rival Macy's had set alarm bells ringing in the department store industry and hit shares of Kohl's, Nordstrom Inc and J.C. Penney on Wednesday.

Kohl's net income fell to $120 million, or 63 cents per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31, from $142 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 75 cents per share.

Net sales rose 1.2 percent to $4.43 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 69 cents per share on revenue of $4.40 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Maju Samuel)