JCPenney, Kohl's Nov. helped by calendar shift

PLANO, Texas and MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. Kohl’s and JCPenney today both reported total and comparable-store sales growth for the month of November.

Kohl’s came out ahead, reporting total sales of $2 billion compared with $1.7 billion last year, an increase of 20%, and a same-store sales increase of 10% for the same period.

JCPenney reported total department store sales of $1.7 billion, which represents an increase of 5.8% over total department store sales of $1.6 billion last year.

Both companies attributed their results partly to the calendar shift that put the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend in the November reporting period.

JCPenney provided its outlook for the December and fourth quarter periods. The company said it expects comparable-department-store sales for December to decrease in the mid-single digits and for comparable-department-store sales for the fourth quarter to decrease in the low-single digits.