Hi I2: Yes, I still own JCP. The best that I can say right now is that I have found the secret of investing in JCP. You just think about investing in it, but don't actually do anything. Turns out you will have saved a bundle. At least that's so for me, who has thought about averaging down every day since JCP dropped to 35.
By now, EVERYBODY must know JCP is being squeezed by Wal-Mart/Target/etc. on one side and Nordstrom/Macy's/etc. on the other. Same store sales (retail)are down, down.
I'm with Paul A. in the previous post. At $22-23,"this is a tough one".
JCP still has value -- the drug stores which 'they say' are worth maybe the price of JCP (although I've never seen the calculations which support this)-- the private brands, the catalog business. I have some regard also for their breadth of operations. Their advertising, "Come in. Call in. Log on." says it. Also, per their '98 annual, they "have begun linking EVA (Economic Value Added(R)) performance with incentive compensation programs". This is a positive step, imo. Plus, we see they are divesting some operations --which I assume is done to streamline to core competencies/core businesses (-g- get them somewhere where they can make some money).
I, too, just "hate to try to catch a falling knife" on this one. But I may try it yet.
Paul Senior |
