UPDATE: J.C. Penney Shares Slide After Downbeat Q4 Earnings

Shares of

tumbled more than 7% in after-hours trading after the company reported results for the fourth quarter. The Plano, Texas-based company reported a quarterly loss of $59 million, or $0.19 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $35 million, or $0.11 per share. The year-earlier period benefitted from a tax $270 million tax credit. Excluding certain items, the company broke even during the quarter. Its sales gained 2.9% to $3.89 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.11 per share on revenue of $3.87 billion. Its online sales through jcpenney.com climbed 12.5% to $428 million in the quarter, up 12.5 percent in the quarter, while same-store sales surged 4.4%. Gross margin widened 540 basis points to 33.8%. SG&A expenses rose $28 million to $1.032 billion in the quarter. J.C. Penney ended the year with liquidity of around $2.1 billion. Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chief executive officer, said, "2014 was a successful year for JCPenney. Thanks to the hard work and outstanding execution by our teams, we significantly grew sales and gross margin and delivered on our goal to generate positive free cash flow, representing a $2.8 billion improvement over last year." J.C. Penney expects FY15 comparable store sales to rise 3% to 5%. J.C. Penney shares dipped 7.79% to $8.41 in after-hours trading.