Stocks to Watch: J.C. Penney, Groupon, Sears
NEW YORK --
J.C. Penney's
(JCP) - Get Free Report
fourth-quarter loss widened from a year earlier as sales plunged almost 30%.
The department store chain on Wednesday posted a quarterly loss of $552 million, or $2.51 a share, wider than the year-earlier loss of $87 million, or 41 cents a share. The adjusted loss in the period was $1.95 a share; analysts forecast a loss of 18 cents a share.
Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell 28.4% to $3.88 billion and same-store sales fell 31.7%. Analysts expected the retailer to post revenue of $4.09 billion.
Why Best Buy Should Love and Embrace Amazon.com
Groupon
(GRPN) - Get Free Report
, the daily deals company, missed Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates.
Groupon reported on Wednesday a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $638.3 million. Analysts were looking for earnings of 3 cents a share on revenue of $638.4 million.
Operating cash flow in the quarter plunged 61% to $65.7 million from $169.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The company provided first-quarter guidance that was sharply below Wall Street expectations. Groupn expects sales to be between $560 million and $610 million, a year-over-year increase of between 0% and 9%. Wall Street analysts are expecting sales of $647.7 million.
Groupon Sinks as Cash Flows Plunge
Sears
(SHLD)
is expected by analysts Thursday to post fourth-quarter earnings of 98 cents a share on revenue of $11.77 billion.
Kohl's
(KSS) - Get Free Report
is expected by Wall Street to post fourth-quarter profit of $1.63 a share on revenue of $6.24 billion.
Act Two of This Week's Retail Earnings
The
Securities and Exchange Commissioner
has escalated an investigation into suspicious trades placed ahead of the $23 billion takeover of
H. J. Heinz
(HNZ)
, focusing on a complex derivative bet routed through London,
The New York Times
reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.
Wall Street expects software company
Salesforce.com
(CRM) - Get Free Report
to report quarterly earnings of 40 cents a share when it issues its results after the markets close Thursday.
Wal-Mart's
(WMT) - Get Free Report
chief administrative officer, Tom Mars, is steeping down after working for the giant retailer for more than a decade.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
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Joseph Woelfel
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