JC Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP) shares are tumbling about 8% in Friday’s trading session, after the retail firm released lower-than-expected earnings results, posting adjusted earnings of 64 cents per share on $3.96 billion in revenue, compared to consensus estimates of 81 cents per share and $3.99 billion in revenue. The company also said it will close at least 130 more stores in the next several months and save $200 million a year.
Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel commented, “As we dig through the Q4 (Jan. 2017) results and initial FY17 (Jan. 2018) guidance that J.C.Penney reported today, we believe that the investment narrative on the company and its shares largely remains the same. Under the leadership of CEO Marvin Ellison and his team, JCP is a much better controlled and run company. JCP, however, continues to contend with significant pressures in a still very challenged area of retail. The worst case scenario for JCP is now off the table. That said, we are hardpressed to envision the potential for significantly stronger sales and margins at the company, at least nearer term.”
As such, Nagel reiterates a Perform rating on shares of JC Penney without providing a price target.
According to TipRanks, which measures analysts’ and bloggers’ success rate based on how their calls perform, analyst Brian Nagel has a yearly average return of 2.5% and a 53.5% success rate. Nagel has a -32% average return when recommending JCP, and is ranked #1182 out of 4499 analysts.
Out of the 21 analysts polled in the past 12 months, 7 rate JCP stock a Buy, 11 rate the stock a Hold and 3 recommend to Sell. With a return potential of 63%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $10.20.
