J. C. Penney beats by $0.10, reports revs in-line; reaffirms guidance
* Reports Q3 (Oct) loss of $0.45 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.55); revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $2.9 bln vs the $2.88 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
As previously announced, same store sales increased 6.4% for the period.
Gross margin +70 bps y/y to 37.3%.
* Reaffirms 2015 guidance for comparable store sales to increase 4%-5%, and for gross margin to improve 100 to 150 basis points.
* For the quarter, all merchandise divisions had positive comp sales gains over last year. Men's, Home, Footwear, Handbags, and Sephora were among the Company's top performing divisions.
* Geographically, all regions experienced sales growth compared to the same period last year, with the best performance in the southern and western regions of the country.