JCPenney Shares Soar on Earnings Beat

Posted Feb 19th 2010 2:30PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Penney (J.C.) (JCP)

JCPenney Co. Inc. (JCP) reported fourth quarter earnings of $200 million, or $0.84 per share, down 5.2% from a year ago. Excluding charges, the company earned $1.02 a share, easily topping the $0.82 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Full-year net income rose 56.1% from a year ago to $572 million.

Fourth quarter revenues fell 3.6% year-over-year to $5.6 billion, matching the consensus estimate. Same-store sales fell 4.5% in the quarter, which included the holiday shopping period. For full year 2009, total sales decreased 5% compared to last year to $18.5 billion, while same-store sales decreased 6.3%.

"JCPenney far exceeded its expectations and objectives for the year," said CEO Myron E. Ullman. "By stepping up the style of the merchandise we offer customers and enhancing service in our stores, we were able to drive cash generation and profitability, in spite of the difficult economic climate."

JCPenney said it sees earnings of $0.16 to $0.20 per share for Q1, which is in line with the consensus estimate. The Texas-based retailer also expects same-store sales in Q1 to be flat to slightly positive.

Shares were up nearly 7%, or $1.80, mid day Friday, but were still down about ten bucks from the 52-week high of $37.21.

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Tags: inthenews, JCP, JCPenney, Myron Ullman

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-19-2010 @ 6:09PM

Gary E. Sattler said...

Based on what you present here, Trey, I don't understand this 7% jump in share price.

What I see is earnings down, revenues fell, same store sales fell, and total sales decreased.

All I see to go on here is "full year net income rose." That can be accomplish with some savvy balance sheet shuffling. Besides that, there is simply the cookie that JCP beat analysts expectations.

Are all day traders really this dumb?