In a world where the dominance of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) continues to grow while the sheer size of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) keeps other brick-and-mortar retailers from expanding, it’s tough to imagine any other stock from this arena being buy-worthy, least of all, J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP), which has been on the defensive for years now.

As the old cliches go, though, nothing lasts forever, and expect it when you least expect it. Though JCP stock is down 95% since its 2007 peak and seemingly aiming for even lower lows right now, it may well be time to start scooping up shares of this admittedly speculative company. If the plausible future pans out as it looks like it’s going to, the JCP stock price is roughly as low as it’s apt to get.

J C Penney? Really?

Yes, this is the same J C Penney that’s been losing sales since 2007 and losing money since 2011. Some of that was by choice, with the company opting to close dead-weight stores. Much of the demise, however, stems from the simple fact that consumers don’t want to buy what J C Penney is offering — and they don’t want to buy it the way the retailer is selling it. One can reasonably surmise would-be shoppers aren’t thrilled about Penney’s pricing either.

Nevertheless, there does come a time when there’s no blood left to give. For this once-iconic retailer (as if you’ve not suffered enough cliches already), things can’t get any worse — we’re at the “darkest before dawn” moment.

The chart below tells the tale, detailing the historical and projected revenue and earnings per share of JCP stock.

Have a look:

Now, take another look. A careful examination of the collective analyst outlook reveals this is a company on the verge of swinging back to a profit. That’s a very important catalyst for a company in the midst of a turnaround story that most investors have lost interest in.

As is the case with all estimates, these should be taken with a grain of salt; sometimes analysts are wrong. Indeed, they’ve been wrong about J C Penney in the recent past. Their error, however, has been in underestimating the company’s bottom line rather than overestimating it. Penney’s has topped earnings estimates in eight of the past ten quarters and only fallen short once. In nine of the ten quarters, the year-over-year bottom line improved.

There are lingering problems to be sure. As InvestorPlace’s Laura Hoy recently and accurately pointed out, same-store sales seem to be falling more than rising, raising concerning questions about the stores the retailer has been closing — its remaining stores don’t seem to be faring a whole lot better than the culled ones did, sales-wise.

There’s also the not-so-small matter of debt. J C Penney Company is still sitting on $4.0 billion worth of long-term obligations, and though it’s been chipping away at its debt burden, it’s also been shrinking its capacity to create the very revenue needed to service that debt. As the image above makes clear, though, the math, on a net basis, is working; past worries about its debt load may have been unmerited.

In other words, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an oncoming train.

Bottom Line on JCP Stock

Don’t misread the message: J C Penney still has plenty of hurdles to clear, and the turnaround effort is almost certain to be choppy. Chief among its tasks is regaining relevancy in a world that has mostly deemed brick-and-mortar shopping irrelevant. The company has finally come around to the idea that retailing is a mix of in-store and online consumerism, and customer data is fuel for the fire. It’s an arena where J C Penney is still lagging, but it’s at least on the path now.

More than anything, though, what’s gone mostly overlooked — and what could light a real fire under JCP stock — is that its projected P/E ratio for the current fiscal year ending in January is a palatable 10.5.

Yes, that valuation relies on a big holiday shopping season to drive the expected profit of 61 cents per share in the final quarter of the year. The company is already on such a growth trajectory, though.

Expect it when you least expect it.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter.