JC Penney Reports Mixed Q2 Earnings

JC Penney Co JCP reported second-quarter losses of 18 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate by 13 cents. This is a 52.63% increase over losses of 38 cents per share from the same period last year.

The company reported quarterly sales of $2.619 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.71 billion. This is a 5.18% decrease over sales of $2.762 billion the same period last year.

"While we still have work to do on our topline, I strongly believe that growing sales in an unprofitable way is simply not an option,” said CEO Jill Soltau. “The only way I know how to reconstruct a business, is through a holistic approach across all the key tenets of strategic, purposeful and effective retailing. Notably this quarter, the meaningful improvement we delivered in cost of goods sold was driven by lower permanent markdowns, improved shrink results, increased store and online selling margins and the exit of major appliance and in-store furniture categories.”

JC Penney shares were trading up 14% at 65 cents in Thursday’s pre-market session. The stock has a 52-week high of $2.65 and a 52-week low of 53 cents.

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