NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 15, 2017 / Retail stocks have been taking a beating this earning season, but a Goldman Sachs upgrade sent shares of Tiffany & Co. a little higher on Friday. Retailer J. C. Penney crumbled to an all-time low after disappointing first quarter results.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Tiffany & Co.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=TIF

J. C. Penney Company, Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=JCP

Tiffany & Co. shares closed up a modest 0.52% on Friday after Goldman Sachs revealed that they are "bullish" on the luxury retail sector. Analysts at the firm upgraded Tiffany & Co. from "hold" to "buy." Lindsay Drucker Mann cited the stock's exposure to a resurgence in luxury for the lift. Drucker also cited data from a survey of 2,000 consumers that revealed high-end consumer confidence. "This improvement is attributed to re-accelerating growth in consumer net worth driven by higher equity market values, with the benefits accruing disproportionately to higher-income consumers," the analyst wrote in a note. "International tourism businesses have improved for ... luxury retailers and brands on easy comparisons," Drucker continued. Goldman Sachs has a price target of $107 on the stock, which compared to Friday's closing price of $92.50 represents an upside of almost 16%. Shares of Tiffany are up over 19% since the start of the year and are up over 41% in last one year.

Access RDI's Tiffany & Co. Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=TIF

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. shares closed down 13.99% on Friday and even hit an all-time low of $4.48 after the struggling retailer reported results for its first quarter. The stock's intra-day low of $4.48 is the lowest J. C. Penney has seen since 1972 according to FactSet. Earnings per share, excluding items, came in at 6 cents which was a plus as Thomson Reuter's analysts expected a loss of 21 cents. Revenues at $2.71 billion were a miss compared to the $2.77 billion expected. Same-store sales dropped 3.5% which was a lot steeper than the 0.6% drop FactSet had estimated. CEO Marvin Ellisson seemed pretty optimistic in a statement, "While February was a very challenging month for JCPenney and broader retail, we are pleased with our comp store sales for the combined March and April period, which improved significantly versus February." The stock is down 45% this year so far.

Access RDI?s J. C. Penney Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=JCP

Our Actionable Research on Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) and J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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SOURCE: RDInvesting.com