J C Penney Company Inc (ticker: JCP) shares plunged, falling as much as 25 percent on Thursday, with shares now down 34 percent in the past year following another disappointing quarter from the brick-and-mortar retailer. J.C. Penney also once again lowered its full-year guidance, and analysts say investors shouldn’t expect things to get easier from here.
On Thursday morning, JCP reported a second-quarter adjusted earnings per share loss of 38 cents on revenue of $2.76 billion. Both numbers fell short of consensus analyst estimates of a 6-cent loss on $2.86 billion in revenue. Revenue was down 7.5 percent from a year ago.
In addition, same-store sales growth was just 0.3 percent, missing analysts’ average estimate of 1 percent. The same-store sales miss is particularly disappointing for JCP stock owners because of the company’s aggressive cost-cutting initiatives and store closures in recent quarters. After closing nearly 140 stores in 2017, J.C. Penney said earlier this year it would close eight more in 2018.
In a statement, CFO Jeffrey Davis tried to put a positive spin on a difficult quarter.
“During the second quarter, we delivered a positive sales comp of 0.3 percent. We had a strong start and finish to the quarter, with both May and July comps delivering ahead of our annual comp guidance range,” Davis says.
Former J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison left the company in May to take over as CEO of Lowe’s Companies (LOW). J.C. Penney said on Thursday that hiring a new CEO is its top priority and the board has already met with several candidates.
Looking ahead, J.C. Penney lowered its full-year EPS loss guidance from a previous range of between 7 cents and 13 cents to a new range of between 80 cents and $1.
J.C. Penney stock dropped below $2 for the first time in its 89-year history on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning as investors consider whether a comeback is plausible for the retailer.
Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen says J.C. Penney will have a difficult time filling Ellison’s shoes.
“We believe…
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