Kohl’s Corporation (KSS - Free Report) is a U.S. based department store chain that operates specialty department stores and an e-commerce site in the U.S. The department store appeals to middle-class consumers as it sells discounted branded and private label clothing and home goods.

Kohl’s has been struggling with weak comps amid a difficult retail sales scenario for the last few quarters. Lower spending on apparel and accessories, dwindling store traffic, margin pressure and competition from discount retailers are further hurting sales at department stores. The company’s strategic initiative, ‘Greatness Agenda’, which was designed to increase transactions per store and sales, is also failing to deliver positive results. Though Kohl’s has been making continuous efforts to improve its base business and has also undertaken several initiatives to reduce its inventory to boost profits, the improvement is yet to reflect in the results.

Earnings Estimate Revision: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 and 2018 have increased by 1.1% and 2.9% in the last seven days. However, in the trailing four quarters, excluding quarter under review, the company exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of nearly 21.3%.

Zacks Rank: Currently, KSS has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).The Zacks Rank that could definitely change following Kohl’s’ earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings: KSS posted adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share, beating our consensus of $1.19 per share. Investors should note that these figures take out stock option expenses.

Revenue: KSS posted revenues of $4.144 billion, marginally beating our consensus estimate of $4.138 billion.

Key Stats to Note: Kohl’s’ comparable store sales decreased 0.4%, as against a decline of 2.7% in the preceding quarter and 1.8% decline in the year-ago quarter.

Stock Price: Shares were up more than 2.5% in the pre-market trading.