(KSS) - "We also made great progress on our share repurchase program, buying over $1 billion of our stock during the quarter."

Kohl's Corporation has met or exceeded earnings estimates in 10 out of the past 11 quarters. Ten analysts have raised their numbers for both this year and next. Over the past two months, this year's estimates have jumped 5% to $3.17 per share. The stock is trading at 18.6x next year's estimates, slightly higher than the company's long-term growth rate of 17.82%, giving the stock a PEG ratio of 1.05. Full Analysis Kohl's Corporation (KSS) operates specialty department stores in the United States. Its stores sell apparel, footwear, accessories, and beauty products for women, men, and children, as well as soft home products, such as towels, sheets and pillows, and housewares. As of March 13, 2006, the company operated 741 stores in 41 states. The stock recently got a boost after the company said same-store sales -- or sales at stores open at least a year, a closely watched measure of retail performance -- rose 16.3 percent in September. Kohl's also boosted its third-quarter profit-per-share forecast to a range of 56 cents to 59 cents, from previous guidance of 53 cents to 56 cents. "All regions of the country experienced double-digit comparable store sales increases for the month," Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We are experiencing healthy increases in both transactions per store and average transaction value." Similarly, the company reported strong second-quarter earnings in mid-August. Income for the quarter ended July 29 was $232.4 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with $187.2 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 14 percent to $3.29 billion from $2.89 billion, while same-stores sales grew 5.5%. Analysts had expected 65 cents per share in earnings. "We achieved improvement in our gross margin rate and experienced significant expense leverage on our sales increase," said Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive. "We also made great progress on our share repurchase program, buying over $1 billion of our stock during the quarter." KSS has met or exceeded earnings estimates in 10 out of the past 11 quarters. Ten analysts have raised their numbers for both this year and next. Over the past two months, this year's estimates have jumped 5% to $3.17 per share. The stock is trading at 18.6x next year's estimates, slightly higher than the company's long-term growth rate of 17.82%, giving the stock a PEG ratio of 1.05. Content Courtesy: Zacks Investment Research #1 Ranked Stocks Highlight Archive To truly take advantage of the Zacks Rank, you need to first understand how it works. That is why we created the free special report: Zacks Rank Guide: Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions. | Blog Home| VitalStocks Home Tags: KSS, Stock-market, Stocks, Investing, Stock Trading, Business, Finance, Trading, Investing Newsletter, Stock Picks