Expert: Kohl's On 'Growth Trajectory'

Ryan Craver was recently a guest on #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show hosted by Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick.

Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) shares tanked 12 percent Thursday on disappointing first quarter sales, but a retail expert told Benzinga that the company is in a growth phase.

"It's one of the strongest-performing department stores we've got today," Ryan M. Craver, Lamour Group senior vice president said.

Analysts on average expect Kohl's to post 2.3 percent sales growth for the year ending January 31.

In the past three years, Kohl's revenue has been relatively flat at $19.2 billion, although profits last year grew 5 percent.

The company garners an average Wall Street rating of Overweight and $74.77 target, according to FactSet.

"They're a longer-term play and I like them," Craver said. "They're still in that growth trajectory."

Department stores in general have been on a losing course in terms of market share, but Craver said Kohl's has "a nice little niche between department stores and off-price stores, with some pretty incredible values."

Kohl's said Thursday that first quarter profit grew 1.6 percent to $0.63 a share, beating analysts' expectations.

Sales rose 1.3 percent to $4.12 billion, while same-store sales growth of 1.4 percent was well short of the consensus.

Shares of the family-oriented department store chain traded recently at $65.58, off $8.93.