Retail giant JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) reported its first quarter numbers this morning, and reported that the current economic environment led to a pretty hefty 50% drop in its net income.

The company stated that the cut back in consumer spending was to blame for the drop in net income, and predicted that the tough times were far from over. In its earnings report, the company estimated that the difficult times could easily last for the remainder of the year.

Despite the 50% drop in income, and poor business outlook for the rest of the year, the stock is actually in the green today, as traders have pushed shares of the retailer up 1.7% to $45.01, up $0.76. The reason... the company was able to beat Wall Street estimates.

Going into today's report, analysts had been looking to see the company show earnings of 50 cents a share, and the actual numbers were a bit higher, at 54 cents a share for the quarter. This has given the bulls a reason to come in and drive the stock higher, despite a lower than expected revenue number. Analysts had been looking to see revenues of $4.17 billion, and the actual number was a bit under at $4.13 billion.

Also helping give the stock a lift today was the company's forecast of 38 cents a share for the second quarter, which was a penny higher than analysts had been expecting to see.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.