News

Actions

JCPenney warns: Losses are growing

JCPenney  store
Posted

JCPenney says it will lose twice as much money as it had expected to this quarter.

The retailer now forecasts a loss of between 40 cents to 45 cents a share, more than twice as bad as both Wall Street estimates as well as the $62 million, or 20 cents a share, that it lost in the second quarter. The warning sent JCPenney shares 14% lower Friday morning.

Driving the bigger loss, the company said, is its decision to speed up the liquidation of poorly-selling inventory, primarily women's clothing. CEO Marvin Ellison said the chain has already boosted sales but getting rid of less popular items.

Penney has lost $242 million in the first six months of this fiscal year. And while it did manage to post a narrow $1 million profit last year, that came after a string of five straight losing years in which it lost a total of $3.5 billion.

The chain also closed 127 stores during the second quarter, more than 10% of its locations.

Of course JCPenney is hardly the only brick-and-mortar retailer that's struggling. Store closing announcements have more than tripled this year, according to Fung Global Retail & Technology, a retail research firm. The total of 6,700 tops the previous record set in 2008, the first year of the Great Recession.

 

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Thursday

05/08/2025

Clear

-° / 63°

0%

Friday

05/09/2025

Clear

99° / 66°

0%

Saturday

05/10/2025

Partly Cloudy

102° / 67°

0%

Sunday

05/11/2025

Mostly Clear

93° / 57°

0%

Monday

05/12/2025

Mostly Cloudy

79° / 53°

24%

Tuesday

05/13/2025

Clear

72° / 53°

5%

Wednesday

05/14/2025

Mostly Clear

80° / 57°

0%

Thursday

05/15/2025

Mostly Clear

86° / 61°

0%