Women’s Clothing Selling Well at JC Penney, but Excess Inventory Remains
TickerMine’s most recent survey of JC Penney stores finds that 66% of respondents report that “Women’s Clothing” is the top selling category of items in their stores. “Chidren’s Apparel” as a category was ranked by 9% as the top selling group of items. 40% of respondents reported that business was the same as last year at this time, while 14% cited slower sales due to bad weather. We alert readers to our view that reports of negative sales should be given great weight, as store employee surveys generally exhibit a positive bias. JC Penney employees identifed categories of merchandise with excess inventory in their stores. 17% of respondets each saw excess inventory of “Womens’ Apparel” category and “Jewelry and Watches” category. 11% saw Children’s Apparel in excess inventory while 9% saw bedding and furniture category as having excess inventory.
On March 12th, 2008 TickerMine published its 3rd survey on JC Penney stores. The survey data picked up an increase in respondents reporting excess inventory at the stores. TickerMine alerted readers to the fact that the level of negative responses was unusually high and to be on alert for weakness at JC Penney’s.
On April 1, the financial press began reporting stories like this:
J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) shocked the investing community last week when it lowered its first-quarter earnings guidance to 50 cents per share, down from 75-80 cents. This is really bad news, and it does not bode well for the retail stalwart.”
TickerMine data had served as a warning, providing an alert for investors to re-think JC Penney and what the expectations were for the company.
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