Jim Cramer On Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) – “Once a Jewel, Now Cutting Dividends – Not Good”
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We recently published a list of What Did Jim Cramer Say About These 19 Stocks Recently? In this article, we are going to take a look at where Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed recently.
Jim Cramer kicked off his latest episode of Mad Money by highlighting the wild swings in the market, the ongoing trade war with Canada, and the growing concerns about tariffs and inflation. Although tech stocks attempted a rally, it fizzled out by the close. Cramer described the volatile trading session by saying:
“We got a good sign. The beat-down tech stocks rallied and rallied hard at one point after a lot of time lost in the wilderness while the recession proof stocks, well, they finally got clubbed.”
Jim Cramer then explained that the reason behind this volatility is the escalating trade war with Canada. Here’s how he explained the situation:
“We got a trade war going with Canada. Here’s what happened, they announced a 25% tariff on electricity in our country earlier today. Immediately president Trump announced some hard retaliation doubling the tariffs on aluminum and steel. The steel side can be dealt with. Aluminum, I don’t know but it’s bad news. Canadians produce a huge percentage of that stuff for our airline makers, for trucks, for cars. A 50% tariff would be very inflationary and could destroy the profits of the automakers.”
Cramer then shifted his focus to the broader implications of the White House’s stance on the stock market. Here’s what he said:
“So, let’s talk about stock prices in the White House. Now this weekend, the President said he’s not focused on the stock market. Maybe if you’re in power and you’re not up for re-election, the stock market could be ignored. That’s just one problem. This is what the President’s forgetting: the stock market serves a dual role. Yes, it makes rich people richer, no doubt—at least when it’s going up. But when it goes down, it can also be a signal; a signal that things aren’t well in the economy, that business could be getting tougher, and that layoffs could be on the table.”
While Cramer agreed with the broader goal of addressing trade imbalances, he criticized the way the administration is handling it, which is causing widespread uncertainty. Here’s how he put it:
“Because of the President’s tumultuous approach to trade, these tariffs are beginning to scare people—regular people, you, me—and that’s what the stock market has been saying before the Canadians blinked and we momentarily avoid a real trade war. But we’re still seeing a pronounced decline in small business optimism. It’s a cliché. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy. Big businesses are always trying to trim costs, small businesses hire. We’re starting to see large shortfalls in many different industries.”
Finally, Cramer’s opinion is that the U.S. is no longer a manufacturing-driven economy, but a service-driven one, where businesses thrive on stability and consumer confidence. Here’s how he explained it:
“Now we’re not a manufacturing economy, we’re a service economy. That’s why it stings when you see these retailers, telecoms, and airlines linking the negativity of their customers to political actions. […] The issue is that, again, we’re service. Most of our business is service, and that economy is starting to roll over because consumer confidence is declining as people worry about the impact of these tariffs. They don’t understand them. Sure, we have plenty of room for layoffs, so to speak, because we have very low unemployment. But the stock market is saying the tariffs will be inflationary, and the White House hasn’t explained to the American people why it’s worth it.”
For this article, we compiled a list of 19 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on March 11th. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up on a fashionable pair of the company's footwear, the details revealed in sharp focus.
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) continues to struggle in a tough retail environment, cutting its dividend from 50 cents to 12.5 cents and issuing a bleak earnings forecast. Cramer didn’t hold back on how bad the numbers were:
“Now consider the case of Kohl’s, a former jewel of a chain that’s fallen on hard times, cutting its dividend today from 50 cents to 12.5 cents. Not good. Kohl’s is still making some money, but they’re forecasting a huge reduction in earnings—10 to 60 cents versus $1.24 the analysts were expecting. More important, they see same-store sales down 4 to 6% when the analysts were expecting only to be down 1%. Ouch, that’s very bad.”
Once considered one of the leading department store chains, Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) has been losing market share to competitors like Target and Walmart, as well as online retailers. With declining foot traffic and disappointing sales forecasts, Cramer remains bearish on the stock.
Overall, KSS ranks 14th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed recently. While we acknowledge the potential of KSS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KSS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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