J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s (NYSE: JCP) long-suffering shareholders recently got a break when Citigroup went out on the contrarian limb and upgraded the stock to Buy after the company finally posted some much better than expected earnings on February 26. After years of a brutal battle in which activist investor Bill Ackman took control, installed former Apple executive Ron Johnson and then ended up selling his stake and Johnson being fired, excited investors pushed the highly shorted stock up 65%.

While the company has taken some positive steps, the retail analysts at Sterne Agee are advising their clients that chasing this name is not a good idea. In fact, in a new research report, they concede that while store traffic is improving, they see no clear indication that the company can attain comparison store sales levels that will generate enough cash to ward off the impending liquidity issues.

While the Ron Johnson era of trying to remold the iconic American retailer into some sort of hip retail go-to place is clearly over, the work of rebuilding the image and the brand with the core consumer is just beginning. That is the process that the Sterne Agee team is wary of, and they believe it is one that could take years despite the current positive steps in the right direction. They maintain their Neutral rating and advise clients to stay on the sidelines for now.

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