J.C. Penney Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of department store operator J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) surged 19% on Tuesday after tapping Ron Johnson, head of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) retail operations, as its new president and eventual CEO.

So what: Highly regarded for his creativity and innovation, Johnson is widely credited for the smashing success of Apple's iconic retail stores, which have grown to a whopping 300 stores in the U.S. and abroad. Given his proven track-record, it's no surprise that Mr. Market is betting that Johnson will be able to set J.C. Penney apart from rivals such as Macy's (NYSE: M  ) and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN  ) .

Now what: I wouldn't jump onto J.C. Penney shares just yet. While investors have good reason to be excited about the hiring coup, today's 19% surge just seems like too big of a celebration at too early of a time. After all, without any wildly popular, industry-dominating, consumer-facing gizmos to work with, reinventing JCPenney stores will likely prove to be an infinitely tougher challenge.

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