Adrian Gomez Investments

Today, November 20, 2013 JC Penney announced its third quarter results with a press release followed by a conference call before the markets opened for business. Overall, I believe that it was good news for the longs (such as myself). However, skepticism is still hanging in there as the material results were disappointing and the only good news are the trends that seem to be improving but are yet to show on the quarterly results. As promised, I will give you, what I believe are the most important things from the conference call and quarterly results for your review. Mike Ullman the CEO mentioned that "the turnaround for J.C. Penney is beginning to take hold" He also said that during the third quarter "we began generating positive sales momentum". Nevertheless, those positive sales trends are not yet materialized and reflected into this quarter results. Margins on sales are not yet improving. In fact, they are deteriorating based on the same period last yea...

It has been almost a year since I started following JC Penney and their turnaround effort. I have to admit that supporting them back then was just a little too early and I have paid the price, losing close to half of my original investment on shares of this company. Having said that, I still think this company can and will be turned around. Though I still think some of the changes that Ron Johnson introduced are good for the company (e.g. uncluttered stores), It is also true that taking away the coupons were a major mistake that resulted in a precipitated decline on sales. Now that Mike Ullman is back on the reign and coupons have been reinstated I think customers will come back. JC Penney is scheduled to release earnings this upcoming Wednesday, and based on the latest events and releases from the company, I expect it to give positive news that will give the stock a much needed boost and at the same time scare some short sellers away from it. I will listen to the conferenc...

Image of one of the "shops" we'll see at J.C. Penney There have been many critics of the strategy that the CEO of J. C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) Ron Johnson is implementing to turn things around in a compelling effort to revive the old department store and take it back to a profitable position it once had. Herb Greenberg, an analyst for CNBC placed Mr. Johnson as the 3 rd worst CEO of 2012 saying “…over promising and under delivering” was the main reason for this uncomfortable award. If we take in consideration the fact that Mr. Johnson had said that a turnaround was not a one year deal but one that will come in different stages taking up to three years and that 2012 was the very first one for this effort, then, that statement of under delivering seems inadequate, at least for now. As I wrote in an article that was published on December 10 th we have to give management the time to get everything in place before we judge their performance. I know that JCP...

We all know by now the fact that J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is undergoing some major changes in an effort to transform the stores and turn things around. The main idea is to de-clutter the stores and focus on shops (stores within the store) to make customers more comfortable while shopping and try to keep them as much time in the stores as possible. This approach may work if it’s done in a revolutionary way, a way that elevates the shopping experience to a whole new level. But, how can that be done? You may ask yourself. Well, after reading and reading through the earnings releases and company presentations along with other reports in the industry, I came to a conclusion; JCP is focusing on the customer experience (as they should) and not just on sales through coupons and “special” sales as some of its competitors. When focusing on the customer experience they will be engaging customers with a nice environment and one that can’t be found anywhere else. First, b...

Although I must recognize that at first, when I started seeing the headlines on regarding the performance of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), I was more inclined to short the stock thinking that the company was over for good. That changed after I placed the stock under my radar and looked at it more closely for signs of improvement or a major catastrophe. After at least 2 months since I started following this company I decided to go through the 2011 10-K and the latest 3 quarterly results to get a better picture of the fundamentals of the company and try to understand the transformation it is going through right now. In order to be able to understand it better I visited one of their stores in south Texas and I was quite impressed with the changes I was able to witness at such particular store. I want to lay out my analysis in different parts in order for us to get a better picture of the whole story and not only relying on headlines or rumors. So here it is: Management. J.C. Penney...