J.C. Penney Company Inc. (JCP), a leading retailer of apparel, footwear, accessories, fashion jewelry, beauty products and home furnishings, recently reported its sales results for the five-week period ended October 2, 2010.

The company’s comparable-store sales for September 2010 climbed 5.1%, reflecting a sharp improvement from an increase of 2.3% and a fall of 1.4%, witnessed in August 2010 and September 2009, respectively. Year-to-date comparable-store sales edged up 1.9% compared with a decline of 7.5% in the same period last year.

Total sales also portrayed an improvement. After portraying a marginal increase of 0.8% in August 2010, total sales for September grew 2.9% to $1,480 million from $1,438 million in the same month last year. Year-to-date total sales inched up 0.9% to $10,785 million from $10,693 million in the same period last year. Geographically, the southeast and central regions were the top performing regions.

J.C. Penney hinted that the discontinuation of the publishing of Big Book catalogs has been adversely impacting sales. Total sales for the month under review were adversely impacted by 200 basis points.

Internet sales via JCP.com rose 3.3% for the month under review driven by women’s accessories and men’s and children’s apparel and shoes. The home division registered the second consecutive month of online sales gains.

The Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney notified that apparel remains the strongest category among the men’s sections, with shoes, handbags and fine jewelry following suit. The company also indicated that Liz Claiborne merchandise has performed well. The company hinted that sales recorded in its fast fashion brand MNG by Mango also remained healthy.

J.C. Penney witnessed a surge in traffic counts during the month under review, with off-mall stores registering stronger traffic compared to mall-based stores.

J.C. Penney, which competes with Macy’s Inc. (M) and Kohl’s Corporation (KSS), currently operates 1,100 department stores in the United States and Puerto Rico. Given the intensely competitive promotional environment and erratic consumer spending pattern, the company reaffirms its third-quarter 2010 earnings guidance between 16 cents and 20 cents.
 

 
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