Citi Reiterates Buy on JC Penney

Citi is out with its report today on JC Penney JCP, reiterating Buy. In a note to clients, Citi writes, "JCP provided greater clarity on the timing of the transition of leadership responsibilities to incoming CEO Ron Johnson. Mr. Johnson will assume immediate responsibility for JCP's core merchandising and marketing functions upon joining the company on November 1, 2011, and will assume responsibility for all other areas of the business from Mike Ullman following a three-month transition period. Mr. Ullman will step down from the company and the Board of Directors as of February 1, 2011. The transition period will allow Mr. Ullman to provide guidance to Mr. Johnson on JCP's key growth initiatives that Mr. Ullman put in place during his tenure at the company. We expect the transition of responsibilities to be smooth. We reiterate our Buy rating." Citi maintains a $45 PT on JCP. At the time of posting, shares of JCP were trading pre-market at $35.24, up 0.14% from Monday's close.