Tag: J.C. Penney

J.C. PENNEY STILL ON BANKRUPTCY PATH

I find J.C. Penney to be a sick joke. The executives of this company think they can put out positive press releases and have their financial statements not properly show in the earnings press release to cover up the fact their financial results are deteriorating – not improving. CNBC will dutifully report the corporate lies. Checkout the press release where, for some reason, the financial results don’t format. Must be a glitch. Right?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jcpenney-reports-a-63-percent-increase-in-ebitda-to-176-million-and-reaffirms-full-year-ebitda-guidance-of-1-billion-2016-05-13

The press release heading makes you think business is booming. Whenever a corporation crows about EBITDA, you know they are covering up their true results. Of course, a company with $4.7 billion of debt wouldn’t want to include interest expense in the results they announce.

These rocket scientists owe their ongoing existence to Bernanke and Yellen. A company with this much debt and billions in losses over the last five years should be paying 20% interest on their debt. Instead they can finance themselves at 8% rates. This bloated pig should have gone belly up by now. That’s how creative destruction works in a free market. Their existence as a dead retailer walking brings down the results of other retailers, creating the current zombie retail environment. These retailers just plod along, losing money, buying back stock, and never dying. The Fed has created this Walking Dead Economy with their warped QE and ZIRP “solutions”.

If you go to JC Penney’s website, you can actually see their income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.

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DEPARTMENT STORE RESULTS IMPLODING

The government issued their monthly retail sales this past week and four of the biggest department store chains in the country announced their quarterly results. The year over year retail sales increase of 2.4% is pitifully low in an economy that is supposedly in its sixth year of economic growth with a reported unemployment rate of only 5.3%. If all of these jobs have been created, why aren’t retail sales booming?

The year to date numbers are even worse than the year over year numbers. With consumer spending accounting for 70% of our GDP and real inflation running north of 5%, it’s pretty clear most Americans are experiencing a recession, despite the propaganda data circulated by the government and Fed. The only people not experiencing a recession are corporate executives enriching themselves through stock buybacks, Wall Street bankers using free Fed Bucks while rigging the the markets in their favor, politicians and government bureaucrats reaping their bribes from billionaire oligarchs, and the media toadies who dispense the Deep State approved propaganda to keep the ignorant masses dazed, confused, and endlessly distracted by Cecil the Lion, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, Ferguson, and blood coming out of whatever.

You won’t hear CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal or any corporate mainstream media outlet reference the fact retail sales growth is at the exact same levels as when recession hit in 2008 and 2001. Their job is to regurgitate the message of economic recovery and confidence in the future, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Retail sales are actually far worse than the 2.4% reported number. Excluding the subprime debt fueled auto sales, retail sales only grew by 1.3% in the last year. The automakers are practically giving vehicles away as their lots are stuffed with inventory. The length of auto loans and the average amount of auto loans are now at all-time highs. The percentage of subprime auto loans is surging to record levels, as defaults begin to rise. The percentage of vehicles being leased is also at an all-time high. To call these “auto sales” strains credibility. These people are either perpetually renting their vehicles or just driving them until the repo man shows up.

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J.C. PENNEY HAD SUCH A GREAT CHRISTMAS SEASON THEY ARE CLOSING 40 STORES & FIRING 2,250 EMPLOYEES

Yeah. Major retailers always close stores when sales and profits are great. Funny how they decided to announce this one day after the 20% surge in their stock price based on a miniscule increase in comp store sales. The avalanche of store closing announcements from other retailers to follow.

JC Penney to close 40 stores in 2015

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J.C. Penney said Thursday it will close about 40 stores over the next year.

The closures, which represent nearly 4 percent of the 1,060 Penney U.S. stores, will affect about 2,250 employees, according to spokesman Joey Thomas.

Penney’s stock was down 1.8 percent in morning trading Thursday.

Most locations will close on or about April 4, Thomas said.

Read MorePenney soars, but too soon to call victory

“We continually evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate underperforming stores,” Thomas said. “Reviews such as these are essential in meeting our long-term goals for future company growth.”

The announcement comes one day after the retailer said that its same-store sales rose 3.7 percent during the crux of the holiday season.

Analysts have been calling for J.C. Penney, along with other retailers that they consider to have too many locations, to downsize their store counts.

By shuttering underperforming stores, retailers are able to cut costs in an environment when more sales are taking place online.

Just Wednesday, struggling teen company Wet Seal said it is closing 338 retail stores effective immediately. Last month, Sears announced that it would accelerate its store closing plan from 130 underperforming stores to 235.

Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi said these announcements would be far from the last.

“You will hear more, big-time store closure announcements within the next month,” he wrote in an email.

Retailers typically announce pending store closings in January. Last year, Penney’s announced 33 closings during the month.

Thomas said that eligible employees who do not remain with the company will receive benefits and, when possible, assistance in finding a job at a nearby store. The retailer will also offer an on-site career training class.