JCPenney September 2009 Sales Conference Call
First, please note that this call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflect the Company’s current view of future events and financial performance. The words expect, plan, anticipate, believe, and similar expressions identify forward-looking tiffany bracelets. Any such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and the Company’s future results of operations could differ materially from historical results or current expectations. For more details on these risks, please refer to the Company’s Form 10-K and other SEC filings.
Also please note that no portion of this call may be republished, reproduced, or rebroadcast in any form without the prior written consent of JCPenney.
Next, let’s look at our results for the month of September. For the five weeks ended October 3, 2009, comparable store sales decreased 1.4%, which was better than the Company’s guidance for sales to decrease 3% to 6% for the month. In last year’s September period, comparable store sales decreased 12.4%. For the month, total Company sales decreased 0.6%.
From a merchandise perspective, women’s apparel was again a top-performing merchandise division in September, reflecting the Company’s ongoing progress in stepping up our style while maintaining the value pricing for which we are known. Shoes and children’s apparel were also top performers in the period. Fine jewelry continued to be our softest performing merchandise division.
By geography, the Southwest was the best performing region in September, with positive low single-digit comp sales and continued strength in California. The Northwest region had the weakest results.
Internet sales through jcp.com decreased 2.7%, reflecting the continuation of weaker demand for home merchandise, which is the largest merchandise area for our e-commerce site. Internet sales for the apparel divisions were more favorable especially in women’s apparel and shoes, where sales were up double digits to last year.
With respect to sales trends during the month, the first two weeks were relatively strong due to the shift of Labor Day and related back-to-school shopping into the September reporting period this year. The Company also experienced better-than-expected sales during the last week of the month.
During the September period, the Company opened three new stores, two in Texas and one in tiffany on sale, and 12 new Sephora inside JCPenney locations. This brings the Company’s total store count to 1109 and the total number of SiJCP locations to 155.
Turning to our outlook for October sales, management’s guidance for the four-week October period is comparable store sales to decrease in the range of 5% to 8%, compared to a 13% decrease during the same period last year. The Company anticipates a negative impact from Halloween falling on the final Saturday of the month, which is expected to lead to lighter than normal shopping during the afternoon and evening hours.
For third-quarter earnings, based on better-than-expected gross margin improvement during the first two months of the quarter, management now expects to report third-quarter earnings of $0.03 to $0.10 per share, compared to previous guidance for earnings to be in the range of a loss of $0.05 to earnings of $0.05 per share.
We will report our third-quarter results on Friday, November 13, 2009.
In closing, please join us on Thursday, November 5, 2009, when we will release our October sales results. Thank you for listening to the September 2009 JCPenney sales call.
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In the conference calls upon which Event Transcripts are based, companies may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding a variety of items. Such forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from tiffany jewelry on sale stated in any forward-looking statement based on a number of important factors and risks, which are more specifically identified in the companies’ most recent SEC filings. Although the companies may indicate and believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate or incorrect and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized.
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