J.C. Penney Keeps Rolling

Updated from 10:10 a.m. EDT

There's still some shine in J.C. Penney(JCP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

The department-store operator posted first-quarter earnings Thursday that topped both its own and Wall Street's expectation, leading the retailer to boost its full-year guidance. Shares, which have been hit by fears of a shopper slowdown, were trading up $4.22, or 5.6%, to $79.94.

The Plano, Texas-based company said its first-quarter earnings climbed to $238 million, or $1.04 a share, from $210 million, or 89 cents a share, a year earlier.

The earnings per share beat analysts' average estimate by a penny, according to Thomson Financial. Penney's own guidance projected earnings of 99 cents a share.

Sales rose to $4.35 billion from $4.22 billion, compared with analysts' forecast of $4.39 billion. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, grew 2.2% amid what the company called a "challenging retail environment" for the quarter.

Prior to Thursday, J.C. Penney's stock was off 13% from its 52-week high, set in February, amid ongoing concerns that mid-level customers may be showing signs of cutting back on spending amid the housing slowdown and rising gas prices.

Penney's original forecast for the first quarter was lackluster, and its monthly sales for the quarter disappointed. April, a difficult month for many retailers, was particularly weak, with same-store sales falling 4.7% vs. the company's expectation for flat comps.

"We are mindful of the additional pressures consumers are facing in the current economic climate," Chairman and CEO Myron Ullman said during a conference call with analysts Thursday. "However, we don't believe there's been a material change in our consumers' behavior."