Kohl's ($KSS) had its fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday, and the biggest takeaway was the disappointing holiday sales season. It managed to beat out the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.88 per share by 11 cents and beat revenue expectations, but in more than a year, the stock price has been cut in half...
...53% to be exact about it. Despite the LinkedIn correction in late December, the employee count continues to climb as the stock price falls. Job openings have also taken a hit, dropping 75% since December 1st.
Online Following
CEO Michelle Gass mentioned increased foot traffic during the report, but does our social media data speak to an increased sense of loyalty and fandom for Kohl's?
The last two years of Twitter have seen 30,000 people unfollow, and the number continues to slowly decline. If there were any new fans of Kohl's showing up, it isn't on Facebook either. 200,000 likes have been lost over the same time period, and the Talking About Count has never been lower for Kohl's.
The sole bright spot in all of Kohl's data is on Instagram, where seemingly every company we track data for has seen a noticeable improvement in follower count. A 153% increase in followers is nothing to sneeze at. Maybe for a better holiday shopping season, there can be more discounts on Instagram, just a thought.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.