Imperial Capital Bearish On JCPenney Shares

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Analysts at Imperial Capital raised the price target on JCPenney Company
JCP
to $3 from $2.50 on Friday and maintained the underperform rating. Mary Ross Gilbert highlighted reasons for the price target raise: JCPenney reported fiscal second quarter 2014 EBITDA of $50M, analysts were expecting EBITDA of $22.8 million for the same period. Comparable same store sales increased 6 percent, while gross margin rose 640 basis points year over year to 36 percent. JCPenney also reported better than expected reduction in SG&A (selling, general and administrative expenses). SG&A expenses declined 6 percent year over year. JCPenney also raised full year 2014 guidance free cash flow to positive from break even. However, analysts at the firm believe significant debt erodes residual value to shares of JCP stating,”we believe high debt levels and anticipated improvement in EBITDA are not sufficient to justify the current share price. Gilbert stated “we value JCP at a mid-point enterprise value of $5.819bn which sufficiently covers the debt, leaving a residual value to the shares of approximately $3.” Shares of JCPenney are currently trading at $11.05 down 1.16 percent
Posted In: Analyst ColorPrice TargetAnalyst Ratingsimperial capitalMary Ross-Gilbert
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