As Sears Goes Downhill, J.C. Penney Has a Huge Opportunity in Appliances

2017 has been the year of store closures for Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD). By the end of the fiscal year, the company will have cut its store count by more than 25%. The Kmart chain has been impacted disproportionately, with nearly 300 store closures. That said, by the end of January, the Sears chain will also have 96 fewer stores than it had a year earlier.

Sears' rapid downsizing is creating a huge opportunity for J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to expand in the appliance business. Furthermore, this opportunity will grow dramatically in size if Sears Holdings collapses entirely in the next few years, which is a realistic possibility.

Just two years ago, J.C. Penney didn't sell major appliances. However, in early 2016, it decided to get back into the appliance business after a hiatus of more than 30 years. Since then, it has opened appliance showrooms in nearly 600 stores, in addition to selling appliances online.

Continue reading

Source: Fool.com