For the nine-week November-December holiday period, J. C. Penney has reported a sales increase of 3.7%. This figure is for sure a surprise considering the fact that forecasts for J. C. Penney's 2014 holiday period ranged from a
5% drop in sales to a rise of less than 1%.

Thanks to the strengthening of the holiday sales trend, J. C. Penney now expects to report an increase of around 4% for the full fourth quarter.

The impact of strong sales was visible in the share trading. Shares of J C Penney Company traded up 20.27% on Wednesday, thereby hitting $7.89. In all, around 61,614,120 shares of the company's stock changed hands.

J C Penney Company has hit a 52-week low of $4.90 and a 52-week high of $11.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $6.80 and a 200-day moving average of $8.52. The company's market cap is $2.4 billion.

Previous year, during the same quarter, the company posted earnings of about $1.81 per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down by 0.5% on a year-over-year basis. Based on these figures, the analysts had predict that J C Penney Company will post $-2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.