J. C. Penney beats by $0.04, misses on revs; Q3 comps flat, missing expectations; sees Q4 comps +2-4%
Reports Q3 (Oct) loss of $0.77 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.81); revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $2.76 bln vs the $2.81 bln consensus.
- Co reports Q3 comps of 'flat' versus 2.4% ests vs -4.8% last year (guidance of low single digits)
- Co sees Q4 comps of +2-4% versus 4% ests vs +2.0% last year.
- Co reports Q3 gross margins of 36.6% vs 36% ests and guidance vs 29.5% last year.
- Co sees Q4 gross margins increasing by 500-600 bps versus last year -- would compute to 33.4-34.4% vs 34.5% ests
- Co reports Q3 free cash flow of ($315 mln) vs ($400 mln) ests.
- Inventory was $3.358 billion, down 10.4 % compared to the same quarter last year.
- EBITDA was $102 million; a $342 million improvement from last year
- Co reaffirms that FY14 free cash flow is expected to be positive.