M - An Amazon Acquisition of Kohl's Looks Like a Great Idea Again ... for Kohl's
If the idea rings a bell, it may be because the prospect of e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) acquiring brick-and-mortar outfit Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) first surfaced in 2017. Neither name floated the premise then, but plenty of other people did. Amazon had just purchased Whole Foods, and was experimenting with a small number of physical bookstores. A bigger retailing deal seemed to be a fairly natural progression, particularly given how Amazon was starting to dabble in private label goods. But, nothing ever came of it.
Perhaps now it will. Following Kohl's disappointing holiday sales report posted last week against the backdrop of the ongoing retail apocalypse, doing nothing doesn't feel right. It may not be the path the retailer wanted to take, but it may be the best one available to Kohl's from here.
During the months of November and December when holiday-related spending was most frenzied, Kohl's saw same-store sales sink 0.2% versus expectations for a 0.4% improvement. Those tepid numbers prompted the retailer to dial back its full-year profit forecast to a range of between $4.75 to $4.95 per share, down from expectations between $5.15 and $5.45 per share.