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Bill Ackman Stalked By Ghost Of Pershing Square IV As J.C. Penney Implodes
There was a time when Bill Ackman, constantly misperceived as a retail investing genius, blew up an entire fund solely dedicated to investing in Target, mostly via calls as in something out of Whitney Tilson's wettest dream (incidentally, another "investor" who could not get enough of JCP at $27), Pershing Square IV (full hilarious letter from Pershing Square Capital Punishment to the PSIV investors here). His current massive investment in JCP is luckily not a standalone fund, but it is now certainly stalked by the ghost of PSIV as JCP literally blew up overnight and any hope of the rumored "10-15 return" that Ackman predicted in the stock has now gone up in smoke. Oh well: there is always the gamble on Procter and Gamble.
From Reuters:
J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP) reported a deeper-than-expected drop in quarterly sales at stores open at least a year, the department store chain's second straight quarter of severe sales losses since changing its pricing strategy last winter.
Same-store sales fell 21.7 percent during the second quarter, steeper than the 17.4 percent drop analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue tumbled 22.6 percent to $3.02 billion, also below Wall Street's low expectations.
In February Penney eliminated the use of coupons and discounts in favor of everyday low prices. The move has cost the 102-year-old retailer many shoppers.
Penney, whose customers are typically more price sensitive than those of Macy's Inc (NYS:M), reported a net loss of $147 million, or 67 cents per share, for the second quarter, ended July 28, compared with a profit of $14 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago.
The company said it no longer expects to meet its earlier full-year profit forecast but did not give an updated estimate.
Penney last week debuted its Levi's stores, beginning the next prong of a transformation that will eventually see each of its stores carved into 100 separate boutiques.
Despite the dire second-quarter results, Chief Executive Ron Johnson said Penney "will stay the course."
Well of course it will: courtesy of central planners one can now pretend to ignore relaity forever.
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Translation: I'm in too deep. Somebody please buy this shit!
Sure....as long as it's free.
dont worry, barry O will bail out errrrrbody!
"Help Me Obama, you're my only hope" - Ron Johnson, probably.
Or, this guy!
Bill Ackman did not make that investment in JCP. Somebody else did it for him.
Spot on translation.
Up nearly 5% in pre-market. Somebody is buying the Koolaid obviously.
"In February Penney eliminated the use of coupons and discounts in favor of everyday low prices. The move has cost the 102-year-old retailer many shoppers."
For this strategy to work, you have to actually be cheaper than you competition. They are non-trivially more expensive than Target, and if they don't think Target is their competition, they are dead wrong.
BULLISH!
It's always darkest before the dawn.
Isn't it?
ISN'T IT???!!!
They mostly come at night....mostly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsx2vdn7gpY
Um, no.
http://despair.com/despair.html
Bog,
yes, and althought I dont touch JCP stock or otherwise, I adhere to that phrase......
I know it well personally! lol
Stores that depend on the middle class are doomed. Nordstrom and Dollar General and Wally World are the future.
Mervyns peaced it. When Sears and JCP shut down, you know there is effectively no middle class left. JCP is great - I love $10 flannels at Thanksgiving.
Mervyn's lost it because Target (Dayton-Hudson, at the time), didn't really care enough to figure out how to keep it going. They used Mervyn's as a minor-league training camp for future Target executives, and wrecked a perfectly good business.
Frank Castiglione thought he might get the Target VP Mktg. job when John Pelegrene retired. Frank took his eye off of what he was doing at the time and lost it. Every week a different campaign, it seemed. And the fact is, not all of middle America wants to be California. They just want some decent clothes at a decent price. And of course, Michael Francis had the inside track on that job anyway.
It was too bad. They had some OK clothes for cheap.
Couldn't happen to a better CNBC fucktard regular guest.
Yep, I love to see this smug little prick fail
He didn't fail. He just "underperformed."
Means he only gets 98% of his bonus this time...
Johnson's Apple performance was clearly right place-right time, and not boy genius.
Transferring "Apple Store" concept to JC Penney really alienates the coupon Queens that used to stampede through it for deep bargains.
Target stores have done pretty well i thought.http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/tgt?source=search_general&s=tgt quite a dip in 2008..."didn't rest on their death bed" as they say. better the sins of commission than the sins of omission in my book. "failure is a natural consequence of doing business." but Target is proof positive that not all is failure. Are we not to try at all...but simply complain and celebrate failure instead? Sounds like the easy way to me..."the way to give the appearance of being smart"...without in fact being so.
We are "not to invest 100% of an investment vehicle in one undiversified stock, and add massive leverage to it and even more theta, leading to a 100% wipeout."
Casino War is my favorite game indeed.
Making Ellen DeGeneres your spokesperson was a "no brainer"... (No, Seriously! ~ a "no-brainer" indeed)
~~~
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57373794/jcpenney-ceo-on-ellen-degeneres-controversy/
Sir I have an idea.......we could install Chick-fil-A driveups in all our stores.
That's freakin brilliant Jeeves!!! They'll be lining up around the block to get in!
but, Chic-Fil-a will serve only the aryaian race!!!
no undesirables allowed!
To prove it, you have to show your Bible it as you yell "white power!" to get your food....
nice marketing move chic-fil-a!!! nice.
i always wear my magic underwear when i go to chic-fil-a
Chick-Fil-A drive in and walk-in lines out the door and around the block on August 1st.
jcpenney (all lower case - how chic) trying to be "hip" = same store sales -21%.
Winning?
Don't worry.
O'bummer will annonce the opening of a state-managed General Store next year.
Thinking about calling it General Universal Merchandise or GUM for short.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)
I never could understand why anybody thought this tired old brand could be revived. Just like Kmart /Sears they are all destined to die.
couldn't agree more.
The Ship of Fools has steered right into an ice berg.
Ironic that Ron Johnson sold almost 780,000 shares (average price of $41.42) on January 31, 2012 after raising full year guidance on January 26th.
All's fair in love and insider trading by CEO's.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT A SALARY AND NOT ABOUT REALITY, (REALITY!, REALITY!).....NWA
Ackman is overrated.
WTF is going on with JCP now? Up 10% in minutes?
hmmmm.....
but then to Ackman...IT AINT HIS MONEY.....HE SLEEPS WELL AT NIGHT!!!
WIN-WIN SITCH!
The same thing that happened to Sears, Kodak, and every other company that took out a position held by a wealthy connected insider. A stealth Fed bailout of the stock to give a higher ledge for the golden parachute jumpers.
Ackman's -long and levered 'till broke or weathered- school of investment.
Seriously though, nobody saw this coming, again.
The parking lot at our JCPenny has been pratically empty all summer.
JCP doesn't have a messiah figure at the head who has believers that follow his every word. That would actually buy the shell of a computer, with no parts inside, for $1000, just because it has an Apple logo on it.
You can't be an ultra smug logo toter with clothes that aren't specific brand. You also can't make a department store work off one product.
Women will pay 6000% higher than actual cost for a plastic Coach bag made in China. Just to tote a logo around and make other women jealous.
Then there is JCP putting out a fall catalog only featuring jeans featuring the most PC collection of models I have ever seen. JCP, the store for blacks, asians, hispanics, American Indians, and one white surfer boy.
The JCP "experiment" continues. There is no other way but to keep the course right now. Any change will confuse customers ever more. It may work, but it will take time and commitment.
What Apple has been doing for years is find what people already wanted, but didn't know or couldn't define that they want it. Here, JCP is trying to change people which is much harder, riskier, and takes longer to complete successfully.
It is one thing to be #2 in a great company like Apple, and another to be #1 at less successful but still great company like JCP - From Tuna to Big Kahuna - http://rsilberman.com/?p=156
He thinks JCP can return 10-15x's? Not even AAPL is doing this.
Even in the retail sector, video game sales are down 30-40%......stores that usually do WELL during recessions, b/c younger people and parents with kids are at home more, and spend that money on leisure stuff like restaurants (who have remained flatlined) and gaming.
Part of this is b/c the gaming industry, like all indurstries, are becoming more conglomorated and there is less competition for new games AS WELL AS the fact that discretionary income is about to fall off a cliff.
Some of these Hedge Fund guys must be snorting some really pure shit.
Despite the dire results, the Captain said Titanic "will stay the course."
To take a staid conservative U.S. retailer and give it the "bright colors/all lower case/gay spokesperson" treatment was second only in stupidity to going "all-in" on the cocaine fueled Hollywood strategy.
JCP is doing exactly the wrong thing. People who want to buy clothes arranged in boutiques by designer can go anywhere and do that. JCPenney shoppers want to go get, let's just say, 3 blue all-cotton oxford button-collar shirts in the right size for a reasonable price. JCP shoppers don't give a flying fuck what the brand name on the shirts is, or they wouldn't have gone to JCPenney, now would they. Then they want some black socks, a bag of handkerchiefs, some khakis, and maybe a pair of gloves. And they'd like all that for about $100.
That's the market niche that's out there to be filled. Maybe it's not that exciting, but the lower echelon is filled (Target, Wal-Mart, TJMaxx, etc.), and the high-end is filled. Nobody who buys designer shit at Nordstroms, Needless Markup, Saks or Macy's will go to JCP to buy that same stuff.
"Skateboarder" mentioned Mervyn's. They too filled this niche, until they forgot what they were doing and lost it all. This middlebrow niche isn't huge like the low-end mass-marketers have, and it isn't glitzy and profitable like the high-end guys. But there's a way to make an honest living selling decent merchandise at a moderat price to the middle class. Bill Ackman isn't going to recoup 10x - 15x his investment doing that, but he's more or less a con-man anyway.
Bill Ackman's latest scam shouldn't be Ron Johnson's concern, now should it. Nor should Ron Johnson be trying to pretend JCP is Saks or something. Just sell middle-class people some middle-class clothes, and be happy about it.
I thought Knight fixed their algos. WTF
Target has been ahead of the curve using "Big Data"....
How Companies Learn Your Secrets
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all