Kohl's Profit Forecast to Miss Analyst Estimates

U.S. department store operator Kohl's forecast full-year earnings largely below analysts' average estimate and warned that sales could fall this year.

The company also said it will close 18 underperforming stores in 2016, which represent less than 1 percent of total sales.

Kohl's, which has 1,164 stores, expects to take a charge of about $150 million to $170 million related to the closures and its elimination of three senior positions, including chief digital officer, announced this month.

Kohl's forecast earnings of $4.05 to $4.25 per share for the year ending January 2017, largely below the average analyst estimate of $4.24 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It also forecast full-year sales to fall or grow by only up to 0.5 percent.

Kohl's said this month that sales at stores open at least a year rose 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, and total sales rose only 0.8 percent as unseasonably warm weather hurt sales of cold-weather goods.

Kohl's net income fell to $296 million, or $1.58 per share in the quarter, from $369 million, or $1.83 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.58 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.56 per share.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)