Kohl's quarterly profit, comp sales beat estimates

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(Reuters) - Department store operator Kohl's Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and comparable sales, helped by a sales boost in the final month of the quarter and cost cuts, sending its shares up 4 percent in premarket trading.

Kohl's and rivals such as Macy's Inc and J.C. Penney Co Inc have been struggling with declining mall traffic and tough online competition.

In response, they have been cutting costs by closing stores, selling or leasing their real estate and keeping a tight leash on inventory.

Sales at Kohl's stores open for more than a year fell for the sixth straight quarter to 0.4 percent, but were better than the 1.5 percent decline expected by analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix.

"Though transactions for the quarter were lower than last year, July transactions increased," Chief Executive Kevin Mansell said in a statement.

The company's net income rose to $208 million, or $1.24 per share, in the second quarter ended July 29 from $140 million, or 77 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company had recorded charges of $128 million related to impairments and store closures in the comparable quarter.

Net sales fell 1 percent to $4.14 billion.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.19 per share and revenue of $4.13 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru, Editing by Anil D'Silva)