Jim Cramer Calls Out Kohl’s CEO After Earnings Miss

Shares of Kohl’s were plummeting after the company reported financial results that missed the mark.
One person who seemed pretty exasperated by the retailer’s results was CNBC’s Jim Cramer.

Cramer, the host of Mad Money, has called out the company’s CEO over the report.

“This is awful,” said Jim Cramer on “Squawk on the Street.” Kohl’s had seen its worst session in nearly three years, as quarterly earnings and revenue missed estimates.

“Why not just a total ’fess up?” the “Mad Money” host asked. “Listen, we’re spending a lot of money. So far, the results aren’t there. The results will be there.”

Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass said in a statement that the company is “investing in the short-term” in order to “drive profitable growth over the long-term.”

Gass optimistically said on the earnings call, “A few of the key highlights of the quarter included an acceleration in our active business, continued strength in digital, improved performance in our stores and improvement across all of our lines of business versus the first half. In fact, all of our lines of business were positive except for one, which I will address later. This gives us confidence as we move into the important holiday season, we have an increasingly relevant product offering, we are seeing positive traffic trends and we have a compelling marketing plan in place to drive traffic and sales. Our opportunity to drive growth and capture share this holiday is significant. We are leaning into growth and investing in customer value to drive engagement and new customer acquisition. Our holiday kickoff event on November 1st was successful, exceeding our expectations.”

“We have got to hear something about the customer who walks into the back of the store, deposits the Amazon return and then buys something, which is what everybody was excited about,” Cramer said.

Kohl’s now accepts Amazon returns at some of its stores about two years ago, an option that became available earlier this year at all of the more than 1,000 Kohl’s locations in the U.S.

“In the end, when you dress yourself up as a partner of Amazon, you better show results now,” Cramer added. “They haven’t.” Kohl’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cramer’s remarks.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) and have not been compensated for this article.