J.C. Penney Gets a Bounce from a Short Squeeze

In May J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) dropped its first quarter bombshell on a shocked Wall Street – a loss of $163 million and suspension of its dividend.

Things were not going right for the department store chain, and this was painfully brought to light when President Michael Francis abruptly left the company after only eight months on the job. “The sudden nature of the departure underscores, in our opinion, the big-time mistakes J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has made in articulating [its] new image,” said Brian Sozzi, an analyst at NBG Productions, at that time.