UPDATE: Bank of America Lowers PO to $19 on JC Penney on Comps Deterioration

Bank of America reiterated its Underperform rating on JC Penney

and reduced its price objective from $23 to $19. Bank of America noted, "JCPenney retooled its pricing strategy early in 3Q to eliminate month-long promotions as customers were struggling to understand and had not yet adapted to the company's new pricing strategy. While this was easier for the customer to understand, it caused additional sales declines. Traffic declined 12% y/y in 3Q. The company thinks that adding traffic drivers (free haircuts in August) will recoup this lost traffic, but we think JCPenney's promotion-driven core customer needs a bigger incentive to visit a store." JC Penney closed at $19.98 on Friday.