JC Penney Is Set Up For A Post-Earnings Short Squeeze

Perhaps the only things lower than J C Penney Company Inc JCP’s share price these days are expectations for the company’s Q4 earnings report due out on February 24.

Brick-and-mortar retailers seem to have had a terrible holiday shopping season this year almost across the board. Things were so bad that Macy’s Inc M and Kohl’s Corporation KSS even lowered earnings guidance. JC Penney reaffirmed its EBITDA target, but also reported -0.8 percent same-store sales in November and December.

In other words, there’s very little evidence to suggest an earnings beat for JC Penney come February. In fact, traders are so bearish on the stock that it has endured the second biggest rise in short interest in the entire market in the opening two weeks of 2017.

According to shortsqueeze.com, JC Penney has an elevated short percent of float of 24.2 percent. The stock currently has more than 70.4 million shares held short with 4.1 days to cover.

Short interest is already up nearly 6 percent in January, suggesting many recent short sellers may be specifically setting up an earnings trade. Short selling is likely responsible in large part for the stock’s 17.7 percent decline so far in January, but it also has JC Penney in prime position for an earnings short squeeze if the company’s Q4 numbers aren’t as bad as the market expects.

Image Credit: By Michael Rivera (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons