REFILE-UPDATE 3-Sears sees strong Q4 on Kmart strength, shrs up
(Refiles to add missing word in third bullet point)
* Sees Q4 EPS $3.39-$4.12 vs Street's $3.09
* Dec same-store sales down 1.7 pct
* Kmart Dec same-store sales up 2.3 pct
* Sears Domestic same-store sales down 6 pct
* Shares up 10 pct (Adds share movement)
BANGALORE, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Sears Holding Corp (SHLD.O) forecast a quarterly profit above Wall Street expectations, helped by strong sales of toys, home and sporting goods at Kmart, sending its shares up 10 percent on Tuesday morning on Nasdaq.
The parent of Sears department stores and Kmart discount chain said it sees earnings of $370-450 million, or $3.39-$4.12 a share, for the fourth quarter ending Jan. 29.
Analysts on an average were expecting earnings of $3.09 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The Sears store chain has been plagued by market share losses, especially in appliances and apparel. Kmart has, however, managed to retain some bargain-hungry U.S. shoppers.
Sales at Sears domestic stores open at least a year were down 6 percent in December, while comparable store sales at Kmart discount stores were up 2.3 percent.
Sears Domestic's sales decline was primarily due to a decline in consumer electronics, appliances and tools, the company said in a statement. In contrast, footwear, jewelry and automotive categories did well.
The company said strong sales in toys, home, sporting goods, apparel and footwear categories was partially offset by a decline in food, consumables and pharmacy categories.
Sears, led by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, has struggled to tackle competition from mass merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and smaller chains like Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O).
Shares of Sears Holdings were up 10 percent at $77.27 on Tuesday morning on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacahrjee and NR Sethuraman in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)
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