Heard news that JCP will roll out a new pricing strategy, proposed by Rob Johnon, the guy behind Apple retail stores, and it’s up more than 15% today. Yeah, he did a great job at Apple, but look at JCP’s PE, almost reaching at 50, compared to those of Kohls and Macy - low 10 P/E,
I’ve not been to JCP for such a long time, and I really wonder how they can differenciate from Macy and Kohls as they all sell pretty much same products…
What do you guys think?
They’re I believe phasing out private brands and turning it into a store with many boutiques inside it. So like a Martha Stewart area, then maybe a Nike area or w/e. There’s an article on WSJ. From an investment perspective, it’s hard to say. Turnaround stories are compelling, however they’re also pretty uncertain and you end up in a position where you’re pulling for the stock to succeed rather than evaluating it dispassionately.
remember buffet, “turnarounds seldom turn”…also…remember that even if you get the best person to run a business, if the business stinks, nothing much would change I honestly dont’ give that much credence for hte whole apple store thing…lets face it, if it wasn’t for Jobs, this whole aapl thing wouldn’t be nearly as big as it is today…i believe in investing in ppl, but i rather buy a great business that can be run even by me…yes me…if i read the annual report and cant’ figure out how to be the CEO, i can’t buy it…that’s honest…
I like Kohls a lot better than JCP.
I don’t like the whole store in a store thing - it sounds like they’re going for more of a flea market feel.I saw the whole martha stewart thing in the WSJ this weekend, and that doesn’t give me much confidence in JCP.
low margins, costly and difficult to expand, highly competitive, low barriers, changes with the weather/times…compared to other stocks selling at similar valuation levels, can’t see why one would get into it…haven’t we learned something from Sears?
On the other hand, if JCP sells their own brands, it could really raise margins.
They already have a distribution network ready, if they source their own products then I think it could work very well.
Think of this as a private equity turnaround that just happens to still be publicly traded. Read Ackman’s latest letter about this. They will get new more desirable brands and start to kill it. They have had a couple bad quarters - that is expected but the short-term Street can’t wait.
Might be a low margin biz as Frank says but the stock is very cheap. I don’t usually like retail either for Frank’s reasons and high competitiveness but this is a buy.
Pretty sure low barriers to entry doesn’t apply here…how many anchor stores have there been over the past 100 years? Sears is a completely different animal and doesn’t sell brand name clothes and makeup etc…
please help me understand why its cheap.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/AckmanJCP.PDF
If they can get $6 EPS by 2015 with a 13x multiple, you get $77
so its not cheap…its theoretically cheap
AndrewUNH, thanks for posting the Ackman pitch…great read
I’ll be reading that pitch later today.
I like KSS below $45, so I’m willing to take a look at JCP. I’m just not sold on this store within a store idea.
Without looking at it further, I just feel like it’ll take up too much floor space, possibly alienate (for lack of a better term) customers a bit, and flop.
Netflix consumed 20% of bandwith during work hours. Wow
I’ve actually never seen anyone watching Netflix while at work. That really tells you that it was like a country club there.
I don’t know if I buy into all the costs that they’ll cut, especially at the stores.