JC Penney Shares Fall After Earnings Report

Shares of retailer J.C. Penney JCP fell on Wednesday after the company reported earnings that were worse than analysts expected. Shares were down as much as 10%, but bounced back slightly in after-hours trading as investors digested the numbers. J.C. Penney reported a loss per share of $1.95. That was significantly worse than the loss of $0.18 that analysts had been expecting. Same-store sales declined by 31.7%. The loss per share figured included several write-downs, including a $0.41 charge on lump-sum settlements, a $0.24 charge on impairment and write-offs and a $0.08 charge on restructuring. The retailer has been a controversial stock over the last year. CEO Ron Johnson was brought in from Apple to attempt to turn the company around. Johnson's strategy, however, has lead to declining sales and consistently poor earnings reports. Shares of J.C. Penney closed at $21.16 on Wednesday, and were trading near $19.70 after-hours.