Sears hints at revival while posting another big quarterly loss

Investors shrugged off another quarterly loss by Sears Holdings Corp., sending the shares jumping as much as 30 per cent after the retailer said its performance stabilized this summer.

Sears posted a loss of US$4.68 a share, and has now come out in the red in 10 of its last 12 quarters. Same-store sales, a key gauge of performance, also shrank during the period that ended in early August. But Chief Executive Officer Edward Lampert said he was encouraged by positive same-store sales during July and August.

“We have yet to achieve our goal of returning the company to profit- ability,” Lampert said. “We continue to close unprofitable stores, and we are hopeful that we can stabilize our store base at a meaningful level in the near future.”

It’s unclear how much Sears is being helped by strengthening consumer confidence and a healthy economy — factors that have underpinned the recent success of merchants like Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. To stanch its continuous cash bleed, Lampert is selling assets and slashing expenses. He’s also extended almost US$2.5 billion in credit to the company, according to an estimate by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Noel Hebert.

Shares of the Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based company rose to as high as US$1.57 in late trading Thursday. The stock has lost twothirds of its value this year through Thursday’s close.

The company’s net loss of US$508 million was twice last year’s total, while revenue of US$3.2 billion in the period was 27 per cent lower. It also posted a fifth consecutive quarter of negative earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. The retailer’s same-store sales contraction of 3.9 per cent was narrower than the 11.5 per cent it reported a year ago.

Lampert has closed hundreds of unprofitable stores — with about 150 more slated to be shuttered this year — and cut more than US$1 billion in annual expenses. But losses have continued to pile up to more than US$11 billion since 2012. In the meantime, the company has put more assets on the block, including its Kenmore brand for the second time in two years.

Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc. made a US$470 million offer for the brand and a home-improvement unit last month. The company is “beyond desperation at this point,” Hebert said of the bid. Directors are still evaluating the possibility of selling Kenmore and other assets, Sears said on Thursday.

In a blog posted on the Sears Holdings website, Lampert said he still believed in the company’s strategy, but acknowledged the company’s critical situation.

“Given the pace and the results so far from our efforts to monetize assets, it is imperative that the company reduce debt, adjust its debt maturity profile and eliminate the associated cash interest obligations,” Lampert said.

We have yet to achieve our goal of returning the company to profitability.