Updated to include comments from earnings call.

Investors were frightened by J.C. Penney's (JCP) - Get Report  results and guidance on Friday the 13th despite efforts by execs to keep hope alive

The department store retailer's shares are down 6% Friday despite the company reporting a first-quarter loss of 32 cents a share, narrower than estimates for a loss of 38 cents. Total revenue came in at $2.81 billion, falling shy of Wall Street forecasts of $2.92 billion. J.C. Penney reiterated that it expects $1 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) this year and for same-store sales to increase by 3% to 4%.

On a call with analysts, J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison tried to soothe investor concern by promising to slash expenses and emphasizing that new initiatives such as the roll-out of appliances, window treatments and plus-sized female clothing would spark sales later this year. Ellison also said sales trends improved during Mother's Day weekend.

"We were pleased with Mother's Day. One quarter didn't signify enough of a reason for us to reduce [sales] guidance," said Ellison. The exec's optimism on the second half of the year mirrored that of rival Kohl's (KSS) - Get Report on Thursday.

"We aren't updating anything -- the first quarter is a small percentage of the year," said Kohl's Chairman and CEO Kevin Mansell to analysts, sounding defiant on the consumer spending environment. Despite a lackluster start to the year, Kohl's left its guidance for the full year untouched at $4.05 to $4.25 a share in earnings and same-store sales of unchanged to an increase of 1%.   

TheStreet took a brief look at what likely has investors in a tizzy in spite of Ellison's assurances. 

1. Same-store sales miss estimates

J.C. Penney's first-quarter same-store sales fell 0.4% compared to estimates for a 3.3% increase. With J.C. Penney rivals such as Macy's (M) - Get Report and Kohl's (KSS) - Get Reportreporting steep sales declines in the quarter, Wall Street singled out J.C. Penney as the winner due to its focus on promoting its affordable private label brands such as Arizona.

Unfortunately, even J.C. Penney wasn't immune to the tepid consumer interest in buying apparel that weighed on the department store retailers in March and April.

"The first quarter was clearly challenging from a sales perspective," said J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison in a statement, adding, "Although our business was not immune to the issues facing other retailers, I am pleased that we were able to deliver our second consecutive quarter of positive operating profit." On the call, Ellison expressed confidence in J.C. Penney's outlook given that its first-quarter sales trounced its competitors.

Same-store sales for Macy's and Kohl's plunged 5.6% and 3.9%, respectively.  

2. J.C. Penney lowered its profit margin guidance

The company now expects its full-year gross profit margin to increase by 10 to 30 basis points year over year. Previously, the company estimated an increase of 40 basis points to 60 basis points. While Ellison pinned the blame for the downward revision on increasing lower margin appliance and online sales, the market read it as J.C. Penney will have to be more aggressive with its merchandise prices to lure in consumers. 

3. Possible inventory pileup

With sales falling short of expectations, J.C. Penney may have seen a build in inventory that will have to be worked through via unplanned profit-crushing markdowns in the second quarter. Inventory increased 4.1% year over year to $2.9 billion. Execs brushed off the inventory increase, saying it was mostly in basic items such as jeans and t-shirts that could be sold at any point in the year.