Without institutional buying the shorts will prevail in the end. Any company thinking of buying out Penney would also have to assume their dept which is astronomical and their junk bond status makes it nearly impossible to borrow money for new stock. They will slowly liquidate their lease's and merchandise and when nothing is left worth a sale they will file BK and at that point someone may make an offer to buy out whats left only after approval from the BK Court. Anyone holding shares at that time will be screwed. They'll be worthless and not tradable.
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