J. C. Penney (JCP) Sinks After Slashing Q1 Guidance

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down over 13% in pre-open trading after the company cut its Q1 sales and earnings guidance to reflect incremental weakness in the consumer spending environment.

J. C. Penney said sales through the Easter holiday were well below expectations. The company is now guiding to a low-double digit comparable store sales decline for March and a high-single digit decline for the first quarter. Q1 EPS are now expected to be approximately $0.50 per share, versus the company's previous guidance of $0.75 to $0.80 per share. The Wall Street consensus is $0.75.

J. C. Penney said American families, which accounts for half of the company's customers, are feeling macro-economic pressures from many areas, including higher energy costs, deteriorating employment trends and significant issues in the housing and credit markets.

J. C. Penney also said while the economic stimulus package may provide some temporary benefit, they expect the continuation of a difficult environment over the course of 2008. [;J]

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