All is Not Lost at J.C. Penney as 2014 Gets Underway

The long-awaited earnings release and conference call of J.C. Penney's annual sales and earnings result yesterday gave an outline of the strategies the company will follow in order to be a winner. The 2013 results were impacted by the folly of the Ron Johnson era. There was merchandise that consumers didn't want that had to be marked down in order to make room for iconic brands that had been discontinued. The company's performance was also affected, as were all retailers, by the brutal weather that forced the closing of dozens of stores throughout the Central and Northern states.