J. C. Penney Loss Narrows As Margins, Sales Climb

(RTTNews) - J. C. Penney Co Inc (JCP) on Wednesday said its first-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago, driven by a marginal increase in sales and improved margins. J. C. Penney's quarterly loss was smaller compared with Wall Street estimates, while sales fell shy of expectations.

Following the announcement, J. C. Penney shares initially gained about 2 percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange, but pulled back later. The stock is now down about 1 percent.

Earlier today, bigger rival Macy's Inc (M) reported a worse-than-expected decline in quarterly earnings, hurt by lower sales and margins, even as it reiterated its guidance for the year.

Penney's results come as it strives to improve its growth trajectory. The company has been revamping stores, cutting costs and refurbishing its merchandise assortment to woo customers to its outlets, and also has focused on online sales.

Penney, based in Plano, Texas, reported a first-quarter net loss of $167 million or $0.55 per share, compared with a loss of $352 million or $1.15 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted loss for the quarter was $0.57 per share, compared with $1.16 per share in the prior year. On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of $0.77 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter rose 2 percent to $2.86 billion from $2.80 billion a year ago. Twenty-four analysts had a consensus sales estimate of $2.87 billion for the quarter.

Same store sales for the quarter rose 3.4 percent, compared with a 7.4 percent growth a year ago, Penney said.

Women's apparel, men's and home were the top performing merchandise divisions, Penney said. Also, Sephora inside JCPenney continued its strong performance.

Its gross margin for the quarter climbed to 36.4 percent from 33.1 percent a year ago, and operating costs were lower by 4.9 percent.

For the full year 2015, Penney now expects same-store sales to increase 4 to 5 percent, compared with prior guidance of 3 to 5 percent growth. It expects gross margin to improve 100 to 150 basis points, from prior range of 50 to 100 basis points.

JCP closed Wednesday at $8.71, down $0.17 or 1.91%, on a volume of 28.9 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock fell $0.07 or 0.80% at $8.64. In the past year, the stock has trended in the range of $5.90 - $11.30.