Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

story

Higher Operating Margins Help J.C. Penney

By Reuters
Published | Updated

PLANO, Texas – Retailer J.C. Penney Co. Inc. reported on Tuesday a net profit for its fiscal third quarter compared with a year-ago loss, as improved results at its department stores and higher operating margins boosted results.

Net income in the quarter ended Oct. 27, was $31 million, compared with a loss of $30 million a year ago.

Earnings from continuing operations, before one-time items, were 13 cents a share, compared with a loss of 24 cents a year ago. Wall Street analysts' estimates ranged from 11 cents to 15 cents, with the consensus at 13 cents, according to data from Thomson Financial/First Call.

Penney had forecast earnings of 11 cents to 15 cents a share.

Last week, Penney reported fiscal third-quarter total sales of $7.73 billion, up 2.5 percent from $7.54 billion a year ago. Sales at its department stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, were up 5.1 percent, while Eckerd drugstore same-store sales rose 8.4 percent.

Department store operating profit rose 83 percent to $148 million. Same-store sales rose in the segment, while selling, general and administrative expenses fell 1.5 percent, the company said. Expense reductions from cost-saving initiatives more than offset higher planned advertising.

``Department Stores generated a 5.1 percent comparable store sales increase, which indicates that merchandise assortments, together with marketing efforts, are bringing the customer back to JCPenney,'' Allen Questrom, chairman and chief executive, said in a news release.

Eckerd posted an operating profit of $30 million, compared with a loss of $63 million a year ago as sales rose and expenses fell.

The company also said it expects operating earnings per share to be in the 30-cent to 35-cent range for the year. Analysts forecast earnings of 30 cents to 38 cents, with a mean of 33 cents, according to First Call.

But Questrom added that the retailing and economic environments make it ``difficult, if not impossible, to forecast with any degree of certainty.''

J.C. Penney shares closed on Monday at $23.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. Since Sept. 11, the stock has risen 7.6 percent, while the Standard & Poor's department store index has risen 13.4 percent.