Kohl's Corporation operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States. It offers apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty products, and home products through its stores and website. The company provides its products primarily under the brand names of Apt. 9, Croft & Barrow, Jumping Beans, SO, Sonoma Goods for Life, and Tek Gear, as well as LC Lauren Conrad, Nine West, …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.72), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Cash Generation ConsistentCash generation is consistent (score 0.73), indicating reliable business model.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Where KSS ranks in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary)
Kohl's Corporation ranks #57 of 168
scored companies in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary) by moat score — the top 34%.
The widest moat in the group is Deckers Outdoor Corporation (DECK)
at 84/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near KSS in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary)
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 59
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 71
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 60
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 50
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 53
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Kohl's Corporation (KSS) scores 58 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #57 of 168 scored companies in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary), the top 34%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 167 companies in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary). Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (71/100) and its weakest is Resilience (50/100).
How does Kohl's Corporation compare with other Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary) companies?
Kohl's Corporation ranks #57 of 168 scored companies in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary) by moat score. The widest moat in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary) is Deckers Outdoor Corporation (DECK) at 84/100. The companies ranked closest are Carter's, Inc. (CRI) at 59 just above it and Shoe Carnival, Inc. (SCVL) at 58 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 167 companies in Consumer Cyclical: Retail (Discretionary). The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Kohl's Corporation scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Kohl's Corporation?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and KSS scores: Pricing Power (58), Cost Advantage (59), Customer Stickiness (71), Capital Efficiency (60), Resilience (50), Scale & Market Position (53). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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