The clock is ticking on JCP.

J.C. Penney’s latest dreadful earnings report card only reaffirms one thing about the retail icon — despite a well-regarded new CEO at the helm, the company is knocking on death’s door.

While the long struggling department store retailer tried to instill hope on Tuesday by saying it sees positive free cash flow in 2019, it’s damn near impossible for any rational investor to overlook another three months of massive losses and believe things will soon magically improve. J.C. Penney’s conference call with Wall Street analysts was also nothing to write home about.

Management is asking for patience from a beleaguered investor base and scores of vendors. It’s unclear if that relatively new management team will get the benefit of the doubt for much longer.

“It’s way too late [for J.C. Penney],” money manager and retail expert Jeff Macke told Yahoo Finance.

Macke is probably right.

J.C. Penney’s problems persist into the summer

Without question, J.C. Penney enters the key summer and back-to-school selling months donning little to no sales or profit momentum. J.C. Penney’s first quarter same-store sales plunged 5.5%, worse than the year ago marginal increase of 0.2%. The company said apparel for women, men and children were its top-performing categories. But, apparently the categories weren’t strong enough to drive same-store sales growth, a profit or free cash flow.

The company lost a staggering $154 million in the quarter. Free cash flow was an outflow of $268 million compared to a $421 million outflow a year ago. Consistent with recent earnings calls under new CEO Jill Soltau, J.C. Penney highlighted weakness in appliances and furniture as primary reasons for the sales pressure. The company is exiting both categories in its stores in a bid to improve sales productivity.

J.C. Penney is also undergoing extensive research into who its customer is and what they expect to see from the retailer. Hence, there are many departments on the sales floor not performing up to snuff. The liquidation of slow selling apparel inventory has subsequently weighed on sales and profits.

J.C. Penney’s inventory declined 16% in the quarter as it sought to boost cash and exit excess merchandise.

Turnaround plan is not ‘ready for prime-time’

Soltau asked for patience on the conference call. The retail veteran acknowledged the company’s full turnaround plan is not “ready for prime-time” yet. It’s expected to be released in the coming months. Investors unlikely enjoyed hearing that. Comments from Soltau that there are no “silver bullets” or “get rich quick schemes” in trying to fix J.C. Penney also probably spooked investors.