Benzinga’s weekly Stock Wars matches up two leaders in a major industry sector with the goal of determining which company is the better investment. This week, the duel is between two leading department store chains: Kohl’s Corporation and Ross Stores Inc. The Case for Kohl’s Wisconsin grocer Maxwell Kohl operated a chain of supermarkets called Kohl’s Food Stores before branching into the department store sector in 1962 with a venue in suburban Wisconsin. The company simultaneously pursued the department store and supermarket industries, ultimately selling off the latter in 1983 to A&P. Kohl’s has been publicly traded since 1992. Today, the company operates more than 1,160 stores in 49 states with Hawaii as the sole market it has yet to crack. This year, Kohl’s leadership has found itself in the unusual position of fending off different efforts by activist investors to dictate its corporate direction. In February and March, a …