Three of America’s most closely watched retailers have reported quarterly earnings over the past two days, and the results have been as varied as the stores themselves. Each company is closely watched, but for different reasons.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reported third-quarter results Wednesday night and missed on revenues and same-store sales. A loss of $0.80 a share was expected, but the company managed to reduce its loss to $0.62. J.C. Penney has been losing less per share in each of the last four quarters while sales continue to lag and same-store sales improve only minimally, when they improve at all. They were flat in the third quarter and that is a disaster, considering same-store sales were down nearly 5% in the third quarter of last year and 26% the year before that.

If this is a turnaround, J.C. Penney investors are not convinced. They sent the stock down around 10% Thursday morning to trade around $6.99, in a 52-week range of $4.90 to $11.30.

ALSO READ: Companies Paying Americans the Least

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) reported third-quarter results before markets opened on Wednesday and put a solid beat on the EPS estimates while missing on revenues. The company also lowered its full-year EPS and same-store sales guidance. Macy’s took a downgrade from Outperform to Market Perform at Wells Fargo Thursday morning, but Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have not changed either their Outperform and Overweight ratings, respectively. The company has been able to lower its costs and that has been key in the retail sector ever since the U.S. economic recovery began.

Macy’s stock traded down about 1.1% Thursday morning, at $60.90 in a 52-week range of $50.05 to $63.10.

The success story of the past two days, perhaps surprisingly, is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) which reported its first same-store sales growth in seven quarters. The interesting thing is that Walmart attributed the gain to inflation, partially offset by decline in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. There was not a lot of inflation in the United States in the recent quarter, so it appears that Walmart was able to raise its prices a little above the inflation rate and still maintain its advertised low-cost leadership position.

Investors are pleased, pushing the shares up nearly 3.5% Thursday morning to trade around $81.90, after posting a new 52-week high of $82. 27. The stock’s 52-week low is $72.27.

ALSO READ: 10 Stores Closed on Thanksgiving

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.