JCPenney Reports Third Quarter Financial Results

On Friday, Nov. 10, JCPenney shared its third quarter 2017 financial results, posting a 1.7 percent increase in comparable sales for the quarter, which resulted in a positive two-year stack of 0.9 percent. Highlights for the Company during the quarter included sequential comp sales improvement in nearly all merchandise categories and reduced inventory compared to the same period last year. The third quarter also featured a variety of new merchandise initiatives, such as the launch of Fenty Beauty by Rihanna in Sephora inside JCPenney, the introduction of Frigidaire kitchen appliances, an expanded mattress assortment and the addition of LEGO® building bricks and playsets to toy shops in all stores and on jcp.com.

Below is a breakdown of the Company’s third quarter performance:

During an investor call on Friday morning, Marvin R. Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Our growth areas of home and beauty delivered strong positive comps for the quarter. Beauty –  which consists of fine jewelry, salon and Sephora – continues to be a growing point of differentiation for JCPenney. And outside of our growth initiatives, we saw improvement across a large number of merchandising categories in Q3 versus Q2.”

Ellison continued, “Our salon business had another outstanding quarter. With our continued investment to rebrand existing JCPenney salons to The Salon by InStyle, along with improvements in technology, we are committed to modernizing this very important business.”

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Davis added: “I’ve now been in my role for nearly four months, and the priorities that I outlined during the last call have not changed. We remain very focused and committed to identifying and supporting earnings growth opportunities, optimizing pricing and promotions, exercising SG&A discipline, increasing free cash flow from core operations and further strengthening our balance sheet.”

“We’re going to continue to challenge ourselves to be a modern company,” said Ellison. “We think that price and value matters. We think it’s going to matter in 2017, it’s going to matter in 2117. So as long as we can be relevant on price, relevant on value and have product that’s trend right and that appeals to consumers, we think that we can carve out a place to be successful in this marketplace.”

As a result of the Company’s Q3 results, JCPenney stock was up 15.27 percent to $3.17 per share at market close. To access a replay of the earnings conference call, or view the conference call transcript, please visit ir.jcpenney.com.