J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)

great retail turnaround. much better stores, strong holiday sales.

Good fundamentals. profit up, leverage down. although total asset down from 2004 to 2006. now it's coming back.

this stock has seen a significant run and I believe its time to ring the register

The way they are spending money on advertising and the statistics reported on benefits from advertising 3 media wise means this company should continue to make money on above average basis. Their past recent history has surely been great. Keep up the good work.

J. C. Penney Company is the holding company of J. C. Penney Corporation, which is its only subsidiary. Its revenue channels are department stores (contributing 85% of sales with 1037 stores till October 2006) and direct sales channels (contributing 15% with Internet and catalog sales). Of the direct channel, the share of Internet sales is increasing. The Company is the largest merchant for general merchandise in the US.

The retail sector in the US is pretty fragmented with a large number of players. Business as such is seasonal in nature with most of the sales happening during the holiday season. Thus, till Q3, earnings will be moderate only to be fuelled by over-the-top returns during Q4.

The Company has exited from its interests in Brazil and Mexico and sold its drugstore unit, using these proceeds to improve its financial leverage and make it more investor friendly. Operating expense has been controlled as a result of streamlining of operations and this is reflected in the improving EBIT margins. These improvements in the earnings are reflected in the EPS too which has increased from $0.78 in 2000 to $3.83 in 2005. Also, operating efficiency has led to an increase in the sales per store over the years.

This positive trend is expected to spill off onto the next year too with more store openings planned both on-mall and off-mall. The onus is on off-mall for the ease of those customers who can shop on their way home, thus shifting the focus to convenience of the customer. The company is also planning to come out with more in-house brands, as these are proving to be popular. The capital restructuring program is going to continue with an upswing in free cash flow expected from this year. Thus, we feel that upward movement of the stock is going to continue.

They have intergraded a very high end make-up line that should help improve a already kick ass bottom line.

j.c. penny breaking 52 week hi's all year

It is a better than average department store and has been managed well.

I'm long JCP because I believe in management's story. I listened to the conference call and I know that they're going to meet all of their 2009 objectives in 2007. They're going to meet this spring to set new goals. I believe they will blow away expectations at the next report and I think they're going up 20 points in the next 6 months.

good products at reasonable prices

It's Christmas time...and the infrastructure investments of the past 10 years are providing extra cash flow.

#1 Retailer in the game.

JCP is a strong buy. Its trailing P/E is still below the industry standard despite a recent spike in share price. The PEG ratio is at 1.15, one of the lowest in the industry. JCP's debt to capital ratio is inline with industry norms, indicating a healthy balance sheet. All ratios and financial analysis aside, JCP is accelerating its growth plan to open even more stores than originally planned in the coming years. Most of these new stores will be off mall sites. This new trend in department stores meets the consumers desire to shop away from malls.

Has benefitted from strong consumer spending, but that's about to change. Christmas may be OK but times could get tough in 2007 and 2008.

Steady grower, nice price to growth.

Tons of upside.

hit new highs, so might pull back to $70 before resuming uptrend - have been moving out of old malls, buying ShopKo realestate and the parking lots I have seen are full - beat Nov estimates - barely pulled back during May market downtrend

This one is an American standard and it maybe the only one to make it into the new age. Look for this old mail order house to move nicely into the internet order age.

IBD 10/23/2006

"Fitch Ratings ups retailers bond ratings on strong sales, debt reduction."

"Sees new highs after late stage base: 8% past 69.44 buy point."

Overall 99

Earnings Per Share (EPS) Rating
95
Relative Price Strength (RS) Rating
89
Industry Group Relative Strength (Grp RS) Rating
A+
Sales + Profit Margins + ROE (SMR) Rating
B
Accumulation/ Distribution (Acc/Dis) Rating
B

PE 18
Debt 86%