KC's View: There are probably all sorts of reasons to buy JC Penney stock, having to do with going long or going short or hedging this bet or whatever. But the one thing that would certainly give me pause is that nothing has happened at JC Penney to convince me that leadership there has anything like a long term plan for making the company relevant. Investors can go long or go short, but if they go deep, they'll put their money elsewhere.