J.C. Penney, Lowe’s Beat — Monday’s IP Market Recap

A pair of retailers that announced earnings Monday needed some analyst window
dressing to help offset otherwise negative reports. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP ) and
Lowe's (NYSE: LOW ) each beat Wall Street expectations Monday with JCP
earning third-quarter earnings of 11 cents per share against Zacks Consensus
estimation of a 12-cent loss, and Lowe's recording adjusted EPS of 35 cents,
vs. analysts' expectations of 33 cents. But the beats didn't tell the whole
tale. J.C. Penney's 11 cents per share were 42.1% lower than the year-ago
quarter's 19 cents per share, and including one-time items, the retailer
actually lost 67 cents per share. JCP fell short of quarterly sales
expectations, registering $3.99 billion vs. Zacks estimated $4.02 billion, and
both its Internet sales and same-store sales dropped from 2010 marks. Lowe's
which announced in October that its closing 20 stores and cutting 2,000 jobs to
streamline operations reported net income was $225 million, down 45% from the
year-ago period. One-time charges cut the company's pretax earnings by $336
million. The company's diluted EPS were 18 cents per share, down from 29 cents
in 2010. Lowe's guidance for the fourth quarter wasn't magical, either, with
the company forecasting same-store revenue to be flat to up 1%. The companies'
stock paths diverted, with LOW shares gaining about 1.7% to finish the day at
$23.50, and JCP dropping 2.8% to $32.98. Also Monday, Warren Buffett told CNBC
that his third-quarter spending spree included a mad grab for IBM (NYSE: IBM )
shares, with his Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A , BRK.B ) increasing its stake
in IBM to about 64 million shares, or about 5.5% of the company. However, at
least for the day, investors seemed to take absolutely no notice, with IBM
shares trading almost flat at $187.35. Still, Buffett's buys show IBM has
plenty going for it and investors might consider buying into Big Blue, too .
Three Up Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLN ): Up 4.29% (43 cents) to $10.45.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS ): Up 3.3% ($1.53) to $47.90. Salesforce.com (NYSE:
CRM ): Up 2.81% ($3.65) to $133.52. Three Down ING Group (NYSE: ING ): Down
4.95% (40 cents) to $7.68. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX ): Down 4.33%
($1.36) to $30.03. Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM ): Down 4.05% (75 cents) to $17.76. As
of this writing, Kyle Woodley did not own a position in any of the
aforementioned stocks. Check out our list of previous IP Market Recaps .