KOHLS BEAT THE POLLS

🛍️ Kohl’s (KSS) — “From washed to glowed up”

• Kohl’s just pulled a surprise W 💪: Q2 EPS came in at $0.56 vs Wall Street’s ~$0.30.

• Sales? Still down ~5% YoY (ouch 😬)… but better than feared. Comparable sales only fell 4.2% (Wall Street thought it’d be worse).

• Glow-up moves:

  • Gross margin popped up to 39.9% 📈

  • Cut SG&A costs by 4% ✂️

  • Slimmed down inventory by 5% 🛒

• Raised full-year EPS outlook to $0.50–$0.80 (was $0.10–$0.60). Basically saying “we’re not dead yet” 😂

• Stock ripped +20%+ 🚀 thanks to short-squeeze hype + actual improvements. Meme crowd + fundamentals = 🔥

👉 Translation: Kohl’s isn’t the hottest date in retail, but they cleaned up, put on cologne, and showed up to the party looking way better than expected.

🍓 J.M. Smucker (SJM) — “Grandma’s jam slipping off the shelf”

• Q1 was mid at best 😐:

  • EPS $1.90 vs ~$1.95 expected (tiny miss but investors care)

  • Revenue $2.11B vs ~$2.13B est.

• EPS down ~22% YoY 📉.

• Why? They’ve been selling off random side hustles (Canada condiments, Sahale Snacks, Voortman cookies) → smaller biz = weaker numbers.

• Stock dipped -4% after earnings.

👉 Translation: Smucker is still solid for PB&J lovers 🥪, but Wall Street yawning like “cool story bro, where’s the growth?”

🍳 Cracker Barrel (CBRL) — “The logo drama nobody asked for”

• Cracker Barrel thought it’d be slick by removing the old man (‘Old Timer’) from their logo 🤦.

• Fans + politicians went FULL Karen mode 📣… even Trump chimed in calling it a mistake.

• Social media dragged them hard, memes flying everywhere 🐸🤣.

• Company did a reverse Uno card 🎴: “Okay okay, we’ll bring him back!”

• Stock popped 5–7% 📈 after the reversal.

• Branding experts said: rookie mistake. You don’t kill a mascot that screams nostalgia and fried chicken.

👉 Translation: Tried to be “minimalist chic,” ended up “Twitter roast of the week.” Lucky the backlash actually gave them free marketing + boosted traffic.

⚡️ Big Picture Wrap:

• Kohl’s = comeback kid vibes 🕺 (Wall Street hyped again).

• Smucker = grandma’s pantry staple, but kinda stale 📉.

• Cracker Barrel = rebrand flop turned viral win 🍗🎯.