The up move in Penney (JCP) stock may be driven by wishful thinking. Johnson was successful, but he was not selling white blouses inside those beautiful Apple (AAPL) stores. Penney does not have differentiated products like Apple.
The success of Apple stores is, in part, due to the experience they provide. Providing this experience costs money. Penney does not have the money to generate this kind of experience.
Let’s compare the margins. Apple has operating margin of 29.02% and profit margin of 22.36%. In comparison, Penney has operating margin of 4.92% and profit margin of 2.21%. To read the full article on Seeking Alpha click here.
