JC Penney Closes Out The Department Store Earnings Season

J C Penney Company Inc JCP delivered a small loss than the Street estimate for the second quarter. The company reaffirmed its outlook for the full year 2016. As Deutsche Bank analyst pointed out that a reiteration of guidance would not satisfy the beers before the results announcement, the stock traded down in the pre-market trading. The Departmental retailer delivered a 52 percent improvement in net loss to $56 million or a loss per share $0.18. On an adjusted basis, its EPS improved 88 percent to a loss per share of $0.05 compared to a loss per share of $0.40 last year. Street estimate was for a loss of $0.15 a share. J C Penney recorded 1.5 percent growth in total net sales from $2.875 billion to $2.918 billion in the second quarter thus missing analysts' predictions of $2.93 billion marginally. Comparable sales advanced 2.2 percent. The company's Chairman and CEO, Marvin Ellison, reacted to the results saying, "We exceeded our profitability expectations, achieving an $85 million or 59 % increase in EBITDA to $229 million for the quarter. We are continuing to win market share and improve the bottom line of our business thanks to the commitment and hard work of our over 100,000 associates." Going forward, the retail reaffirmed its outlook for the current year. Accordingly, the company expects adjusted EPS to be positive and comparable store sales to grow 3 – 4 percent. Following the results, the stock shed $0.04, or 0.40 percent, to $9.90, in the pre-market trading on Friday.