Kohl’s reported on Wednesday that profits and sales in the second quarter declined as the department store chain continues to struggle with the downward trend in consumer spending. Still, its results beat Wall Street expectations, with stocks in the company rising by over 2% in premarket trading.
For the quarter ended July 29, Kohl’s earned a profit of $58 million, or 52 cents per share. Last year, Q2 profit stood at $143 million, translating to $1.11 per share. Total revenue fell from $4.09 billion last year to $3.9 billion. This beat analysts’ expectations of 23 cents per share on revenue of $3.76 billion.
Due to the challenging economic climate, Kohl’s looked to reduce its inventory and its spending as sales dried up due to stubborn inflation and higher interest rates that have affected consumer prices. Compared to the previous year, inventory was reduced by 14%.