JC Penney Shares Continue to Search for a Bottom as They Hit a 31 Year Low

JC Penney

has certainly seen better days, but just how bad has it gotten? Would you believe shares have reached a 31 year low? Looking back on the tape it can be seen that in December 2000, JC Penney got very close to today's low of $8.59, but didn't quite fall that far, stopping at $8.62. To find a price below today's low, one has to go all the way back to April 5th and 6th, 1982, where the stock dropped all the way down to $8.50 per share. Putting those prices into context, its almost shocking to those who haven't watched JC Penney over the years that share prices were once as high as $84 back in February of 2007. JC Penney has had quite a rough run since activist investor Bill Ackman pushed the company to hire visionary former Apple

exec Ron Johnson. When his policies didn't succeed in turning around the company, he was fired and replaced with former CEO Mike Ullman, which was a relief to some, but seen as backpedaling by others. Setback after setback forced the company to raise a $2.25B round of debt through Goldman Sachs earlier this year, and soon after Ackman sold the stock for a loss at around $13 per share. Early last week traders speculated the company would raise debt once again, perhaps using its large real estate portfolio as leverage. Shocking the street, the company dumped a massive 82 million share offering on the market, comprising nearly 40% of its float at the time. On the 24th, a Dow Jones report stated JC Penney planned to hire 35 thousand holliday workers, giving some traders hope that the company may be anticipating a strong fourth quarter. Despite the hopeful news, shares are down almost 55 percent year to date, and almost 75 percent over the last 5 years.