3 Stocks in Focus; KSS, TGT, WMT

Kohl’s Corporation ( NYSE:KSS ) reported a 14% rise in profit for the fourth quarter due to higher margins and an increase in comparable store sales. The company’s net income for the fourth quarter was $493 million or $1.66 per share, an increase from $431 million or $1.40 per share in the previous-year quarter. The company net sales grew 6.3% to $6.04 billion from $5.68 billion in the year-ago period. The gross margin rose to 36.8% from 36.4% in the year-ago period. The company’s net income for fiscal year 2010 was $1.11 billion or $3.65 per share on revenues of $18.39 billion. The comparable store sales increased 4.4% as compared to the prior year. The company forecasts earnings per share of $0.68 to $0.73 for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011, based on assumptions of a total sales increase of 4% to 6% and a comparable store sales increase of 2% to 4%. For fiscal year 2011 the company expects earnings per share of $4.05 to $4.25, based on assumptions of a total sales increase of 4 to 6 percent and a comparable store sales increase of 2 to 4 percent. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per common share. In addition, the company increased the share repurchase authorization under the existing share repurchase program by $2.6 billion, to $3.5 billion. Kohl’s stock is currently trading at $53.35. The stock is up 0.02% from its previous close. Kohl’s shares touched the high of $53.60 and lowest price in today's session is $53.22. The company stock's beta is 0.94. Target Corporation ( NYSE:TGT ) reported that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 11% reflecting improvement in its revenue. The company at the beginning of the fourth quarter offered 5% off on purchases made through its credit, debit and Visa cards resulting in increased purchases making up for the discounts. The company reported fourth quarter profit of $1.04 billion, or $ 1.45 a share, as compared to $936 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier. The recent quarter included a tax benefit of 7 cents a share. The revenue rose 2.4% to $ 20.66 billion as compared to $20.18 billion in the same period previous year. The sales at its retails segment increased 2.8% in the fourth quarter to $20.3 billion in 2010 from $19.7 billion in 2009. The gross margin at the company’s retail segment fell to 28.7% from 29.1%. The same-store sales rose 2.4%. The average receivables decreased 15.0 percent to $6.9 billion in 2010 from $8.1 billion in 2009. The bad-debt expenses at its credit-card segment fell to $83 million from $ 284 million a year earlier, while revenue slid 17%. The profit increased to $151 million from $39 million. Target stock is currently trading at $52.35. The stock is down 0.04% from its previous close. Target shares touched the high of $52.72 and lowest price in today's session is $52.03. The company stock's beta is 0.96. The company stock traded in the range of $48.23 and $60.97 during the past 52 weeks. The company's market cap is $37.10 billion. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ( NYSE:WMT ) reported strong earnings result for both the fourth quarter and full year across its three operating segments but was disappointed by Wal-Mart U.S. fourth quarter sales. The company reported net sales for the fourth quarter of $115.6 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent from $112.8 billion in the fourth quarter last year. The diluted earnings per share from continuing operations reported was $1.41. For the full year, the company reported net sales of $419 billion, an increase of 3.4 percent over fiscal 2010. The EPS and underlying EPS were $4.18 and $4.073, respectively as compared with $3.73 per share and $3.673 per share, respectively, in the prior year. The company expects first quarter diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for fiscal year 2012 to be between $0.91 and $0.96 as compared to last year's EPS of $0.87. The earnings per share from continuing operations for fiscal 2012 are expected in a range of $4.35 to $4.50. Wal-Mart Stores stock is currently trading at $52.28. The stock is up 1 percent from its previous close. Wal-Mart Stores shares touched the high of $52.43 and lowest price in today's session is $51.68. The company stock traded in the range of $47.77 and $57.90 during the past 52 weeks. The company's market cap is $186.22 billion.
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