Kohl's joins holiday party, dept stores show staying power

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (AP) -- Kohl's is reporting a 6.9 percent surge in sales for November and December, joining other traditional retailers in a strong holiday rally.

Kohl's boosted its earnings forecast for the entire year and shares jumped 7.5 percent before the opening bell Monday.

Macy's and J.C. Penney already reported strong holiday sales growth, hinting that traditional department stores have figured out how to at least slow inroads made by Amazon.com as they boost their presence online.

Kohl's Corp. now expects annual, adjusted per-share earnings of $3.98 to $4.08, well above its prior outlook of between $3.60 and $3.80 per share.

It's also much better than Wall Street projections of $3.79 per share, according to a poll by FactSet.

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