UPDATE: Credit Suisse Downgrades JC Penney to Underperform on Viability Questions

Credit Suisse reduced its rating on JC Penney

from Neutral to Underperform and lowered its price target from $25 to $15. Credit Suisse commented, "[O]ur concerns that JCP would not be able to stabilize its business in a timely fashion were mounting, especially after seeing how effective the completion had been in responding to JCP's initiatives. Since reporting a worst case scenario 3Q12, those concerns have only escalated, and we downgrade to underperform (from neutral) and lower our target price to $15 (from $25). Time is no longer on JCP's side, and going into 4Q12 and beyond, we are concerned that JCP's technological overhaul of both its back and front end systems could serve to create an even more challenging internal environment than is the case today." JC Penney closed at $20.64 on Friday.