What happened
Kohl's (KSS 2.46%) saw its stock price surge on Thursday, jumping 5.7% as of 11:50 a.m. ET. It had been up as much as 10.2% during morning trading. The stock was trading at about $23 per share as of 11:50 a.m. ET, down about 8.8% year to date.
The major indexes were all up on Thursday, as the S&P 500 had gained 16 points (0.4%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27 points (0.1%), and the Nasdaq Composite had risen 77 points (0.7%) as of 11:50 a.m. ET.
So what
The major catalyst for the clothing retailer on Thursday was news that several executives had acquired large volumes of company stock, including new CEO Thomas Kingsbury, who was hired to lead the company in February.
According to an SEC filing on March 29, Kingsbury acquired 92,500 shares of Kohl's stock at $21.82 per share. That amounts to about $2 million worth of stock. He now owns about 229,000 shares. President and COO David Alves and CFO Jill Timm were among other executives who bought shares.
NYSE: KSS
Key Data Points
This generally indicates that the executive team is bullish on the company or sees it as a good value. The stock is trading at about 7 times earnings.
Now what
It has been a difficult environment for retailers, and Kohl's has felt that pain over the course of the past year. Net sales dropped 7.2% in the fourth quarter, and the company operated at a net loss of $273 million last quarter. For the full year, net sales were down 7.1%, while Kohl's had a net loss of $19 million in fiscal 2022.
The environment won't be much better this year, but the company expects better results. Its outlook for 2023 calls for a net sales decrease of 2% to 4% in 2023, and diluted earnings per share of $2.10 to $2.70, up from -$0.15 in 2022, with an operating margin of 4%.
Further, it plans $600 million to $650 million in capital expenditures, which includes investments to expand its Sephora partnership and refresh its stores.
The stock is cheap, and the company appears to be heading in the right direction under new leadership, but it's best to watch and wait for how things progress under the new team.
