J.C. Penney Warns Anew

For the fourth time in three months, J.C Penney (JCP Quote) on Thursday warned investors that third-quarter earnings would fall short of Wall Street expectations, adding that total October sales were down 1.7% from the same period a year ago.

In contrast, Talbots (TLB Quote) reported a 21% increase in October sales, and raised its third-quarter estimates again, to $1.06 to $1.08 per share. That's nearly double earnings of 63 cents per share reported for the same year-ago period. It also tops the latest consensus estimate among analysts of earnings of $1.02 per share in the third quarter of 2000, according to a survey by First Call/Thomson Financial.

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