Still, Penney's net loss widened to $62 million, or 20 cents per share, in the second quarter, from $56 million, or 18 cents per share, one year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Penney's lost 9 cents a share. Net sales climbed 1.5 percent, to $2.96 billion, beating Street expectations for revenue of $2.84 billion. Notably impacting earnings and gross margins this quarter, Penney's completed its shuttering of 138 stores and liquidation of inventory, as planned. "We've never liquidated this many stores at one time, so it was difficult for us to forecast the margin impact in advance," CEO Ellison told analysts and investors on Friday's earnings conference call. "But we feel it was the right thing to do for our business. This decision will allow us to improve working capital, generate more cash flow and invest capital into more productive locations."