Dallas, Texas 05/05/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Many investors are taking bearish call on the stock of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), mentioned equities research analysts at Zacks, citing short sell of 36.5% of the float which itself is an suggestive of “extreme level of bearishness for JCP”. Zacks also mentioned in a research note, “However, it is worth noting that earnings estimates have actually been moving higher for the company, despite the pessimism.”
Currently Zacks maintain “buy” rating for the stock and expects the stock of J.C. Penney to move upwards in the coming weeks and really don’t believe in the bearishness surrounding the company.
This view is much supported by Manny Chirico, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of an apparel company PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) who recently mentioned during a retail conference, hosted by Nomura, that PVH is encouraged by what it has seen over the last 4-5 months at J.C. Penney. Chirico expressed that the apparel maker’s business at J.C. Penney is strong
TheStreet View:
Equities research analysts at TheStreet maintain “sell” rating for the stock of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) while noting, “This is driven by several weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover.” The research firm enlisted poor profit margins, weak operating cash flow, high debt management risk on the basis of current debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, disappointing ROE and usually disappointing historical performance in the stock as weaknesses.
Stock Update:
The stock of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) was up 1.66% during Friday, May 2, 2014 and closed at $8.58. At its previous closing, the stock is still trading nearly 56% below its 52-week high of $19.63 and has delivered 7.52% returns over previous week and while losing more than 50% in previous 12-month period.
