Analysts Coming Late Into J.C. Penney Story (JCP)

It was back on January 5 on shares of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) that we noted, Bad news is good news for new investors.”  The logic was the Ron Johnson magic had not yet been rubbed onto the J.C. Penney story as the unveiling of the new concept was due in three weeks.  That has now come and gone, and Johnson decided to talk up guidance for the year.  Just yesterday we cautioned that the 20% pop since that January 5 dip might be pricing in all of a sudden too much good news,  In fact, much of that gain was a large wave of short covering.  The mid-January short interest data showed that a whopping 32,436,388 shares were short, the highest level since September 30.

Now we have seen two analysts bump up their game this morning. Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray with a whopping $50 price target.  The stock was maintained as a “Buy” rating this morning at Argus but that price target was raised to $49 this morning.

Apparently Wall Street is figuring out that the analysts were late here.  Shares are down 0.9% at $40.35 after hitting a new 52-week high of $41.27 this morning.

JON C. OGG