(Bloomberg Opinion) -- There is a sad inevitability about U.S. department store J.C. Penney potentially exploring bankruptcy protection. The 118-year-old retailer has enough cash to survive the coming months, but it is looking into a possible bankruptcy filing to restructure its finances, Reuters reported late Tuesday, citing people familiar with the talks.U.S. department stores are highly exposed to the unprecedented shutdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. With a quarter of a million shops closed across America, never before has consumerism been so constrained.But J.C. Penney was struggling even before the outbreak of Covid-19. Department stores are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the face of online shopping. Once they were a one-stop shop for everything from clothing to cosmetics and cushions. Now Amazon is the go-to destination for everyday needs. That has left many brick-and-mortar retailers with too much space, and what they have is often unsuited to modern shopping.J.C. Penney Chief Executive Officer Jill Soltau has been...
The lack of education on the financial markets coupled with the force of greed to make money and miss out on the next big bull market has everyone getting suckered into this dead-cat bounce, also known as a bear trap, bear market rally....
Like most stocks in this market, Coca-Cola Company (KO) stock has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. From the market peak in late February through its nadir in late march, Coca-Cola shares lost about 38% of their value. The next three weeks -- through Tuesday's close -- saw Coke shares make up about half of those losses.Still the stock is down 18% from its February 21 high. Does this make Coke stock a buy?Investment bank HSBC thinks so. In a recent report to clients, HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy argues that Coca-Cola stock is undervalued at its present price of just under $49 a share, and should fetch a price closer to $53 within a year -- assuming a few conditions are met. (To watch Laboy's track record, click here)For one thing, Laboy notes that over the past three years, Coca-Cola's profits, and its growth rate, have been bolstered by a...
