Piper Jaffray Maintains Overweight Rating on Kohl's

A report from Piper Jaffray reiterates its Overweight rating on Kohl's

. The report states, “This morning Kohl's reported FQ3 EPS of $0.80 versus our estimate and consensus of $0.79. Results were slightly ahead of management's most recent guidance of "at the high end of previously announced $0.73-0.79 range" provided on November 3rd. While pre-released sales results were below our initial expectations due to negative August comps, FQ3 results reflect a 12bps improvement in gross margins, 92bps of operating expense leverage and $790M of share repurchases." KSS closed yesterday at $54.29.