JC Penney Results Keep It in Penny Stock Territory

Retail

Published: August 17, 2019 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 5:18 pm

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) posted quarterly results that will keep its shares in penny stock territory, perhaps permanently. The New York Stock Exchange already has warned the struggling retailer that if it cannot meet rules that it trade back above $1, then it will be delisted. Shares have a long way to go to get there, and there is no catalyst on the horizon.

Same-store sales were the ugliest part of the report, as Reuters pointed out: “Penney’s sales continue to fall, down 9% in the quarter, and it forecast that comparable sales would drop in 2019 between 7% and 8%, worse than current analysts’ expectations, according to Refinitiv data.”

The company summarized its results: “J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) today announced financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Net loss for the quarter was $48 million or ($0.15) per share. Comparable sales decreased 9.0 % for the quarter.” Furthermore, “For the quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019, total net sales decreased 9.2 % to $2.51 billion compared to $2.76 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 4, 2018.”

Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of J.C. Penney, commented:

I am pleased with the results we delivered this quarter and the progress we are making against our plan. While we still have work to do on our topline, I strongly believe that growing sales in an unprofitable way is simply not an option. The only way I know how to reconstruct a business, is through a holistic approach across all the key tenets of strategic, purposeful and effective retailing.

Holistic? What does that mean? Revenue continues to nose-dive. The stock trades at $0.60 a share. The next quarter could be much worse. And the company is limping toward the critical fourth-quarter holiday sales season.

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