J.C. Penney Notably Higher After Reaffirming Free Cash Flow Expectations

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, shares of J.C. Penney Co., Inc. (JCP) continue to see significant strength in afternoon trading on Wednesday. J.C. Penney is currently up by 9.5 percent.

The early advance by J.C. Penney came after the department store chain reported a 3.5 percent drop in same-store holiday sales but reaffirmed its expectations to generate positive free cash flow in fiscal 2018, reduce inventory in excess of $225 million and end the year with liquidity in excess of $2 billion.

J.C. Penney also said it plans to initiate three preliminary store closings this spring as part of an ongoing evaluation of its store portfolio occurring over the next few months.