Jim Cramer says he doesn't like comparing any company to struggling retailer J.C. Penney, but Coach's disappointing fourth quarter forced his hand.
The luxury handbag maker reported "substantially lower" foot traffic at its North American stores Wednesday morning, when it announced fourth-quarter profit and revenues losses. Coach shares dropped sharply, more than 6 percent, in the first hour of trading Wednesday, because of the worse-than-expected earnings.
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"Really scrambling on this," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street." "I hate to ever make an analogy to a company that we all hate because they told us that things were fine and then they raised capital. This has a JC Penney feel to it. … I'm not saying Coach is in trouble. I am saying that this is not a buying opportunity."
Coach said heightened competition from rivals such as Michael Kors Holdings also cut into fourth quarter profits. Sales declined 13.6 percent in the most recent quarter at stores open for at least a year, but Coach reported growth abroad in Asia and Europe.
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"I just don't understand how a company can go from first to worst in such a rather kind of amazing time," Cramer said.
Cramer cautioned that Coach has a much better balance sheet than Penney, which announced last week it would close 33 stores and eliminate 2,000 jobs in a cost-savings measure. But growth in China doesn't make up for North American losses, Cramer said, adding that the company has too many stores and sells at the wrong price point.
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The company will have a hard time trying to overcome its sales losses, Cramer said. Coach doesn't seem to share the same kind of market momentum moving other stocks, he said.
"In this market you have to expect bad things and then get blown away by how good things are," Cramer said. "That's what's moving stocks."
—By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen. Follow him on Twitter at @jmorganteen and get the latest stories from "Squawk on the Street." The Associated Press contributed to this story.
