UPDATE: JC Penney Shares Rise 4% Following UBS Upgrade

In Wednesday's morning summary UBS analyst Michael Binetti upgraded

from Sell to Neutral and raised the price target from $4.00 to $9.00. The main takeaway from Binetti's report this morning was that he believes, "JC Penny has less 'miss and lower' risk on same-store sales and gross margins for 1H14 due the completion of construction projects that accounted for 19 percent of total square footage." As he expects the effects of these and other projects to subside in Q1 and Q2, Binetti suggests the real test will be whether the company can continue to post significant increases to same-store sales in 2H14. Shares of JC Penney traded up 4.57 percent to $8.46 in the pre-market session following this upgrade.