Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, department store operator J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at J.C. Penney and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

J.C. Penney facts

Headquarters (founded)

Plano, Texas (1902)

Market Cap

$4.3 billion

Industry

Department stores

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$14.5 billion

Management

CEO Ronald Johnson (since 2011)
CFO Kenneth Hannah (since 2012)

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

(0.8%)

Cash / Debt

$525.0 million / $3.0 billion

Competitors

Kohl's (NYSE:KSS)Macy's (NYSE:M)Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 34% of the 975 members who have rated J.C. Penney believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, All-Star BuyingRetail, succinctly summed up the J.C. Penney bear case for our community:

Expect 4th QTR at [J.C. Penney] to disappoint the street. Comps will not look good until they are up against the really awful numbers from 2012. This pick is short term for me but with only 40% of the floor converted by the end of 2013, I honestly don't expect things to improve on a permanent basis until 2015 when the transformation is complete (if they can hold out that long.)

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