J.C. Penney cuts top end of 3rd-qtr profit outlook

The department store now expects profit for the three months ended Nov. 1 to range between 53 cents and 55 cents per share, compared with a prior forecast between 50 cents and 60 cents per share. The company's estimate includes a gain of 2 cents per share from the sale of real estate during the quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expect profit of 54 cents per share for the period, with estimates ranging from 47 cents to 59 cents per share. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time gains and charges.

Sales for the quarter fell 9 percent to $4.32 billion, from $4.73 billion last year--missing analysts' average forecast of $4.4 billion in sales.

The company also said it expects same-store sales for November to fall by low double-digits, compared with a 5.4 percent increase last year, because of weak consumer spending. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, will benefit from shifting a sales event from October to November, but will lose a week of post-Thanksgiving sales compared with 2007 because of the holiday shifting to the last Thursday of the month.

J.C. Penney is slated to report fiscal third-quarter results on Nov. 14. The retailer said separately Thursday its October same-store sales fell 13 percent, slightly better than the 13.2 percent decline Wall Street projected.

In premarket electronic trading, J.C. Penney share fell 68 cents, or 3 percent, to $21.55, having closed Wednesday at $22.23.