SHLD anyone?

[BargainValueHunter]

Sears sucks. I have not liked it as an investment for a few years. Lampert isnt asking like he is running a public company and gives investors or shareholders few clues to whats the plan. You just have to hope he is the smartest guy in the room. In everyone of my investments I know what Management wants. They may feel to execute but I know where the ball is meant to go.

This should be a private company and I wouldnt buy it at any price until management becomes much more transparent....

Is there another example of a lauded asset allocator making a baffling play that confuses everybody but in the end it all worked out fine?

I don't mean the many Buffett moves that made perfect sense in a backwards investing world (his insurance investments during the go-go tech boom, for example).

I mean things like SHLD where it is nearly impossible to know the manager's true motives because he or she ain't talkin'.

Perhaps Lampert is looking more and more Biglarian?

[OracleofCarolina]

Berkowitz just can't catch a break. Last report I see is SHLD being 8% of assets. Ouch!

[hardincap]

Sears sucks. I have not liked it as an investment for a few years. Lampert isnt acting like he is running a public company and gives investors or shareholders few clues to whats the plan. You just have to hope he is the smartest guy in the room. In everyone of my investments I know what Management wants. They may feel to execute but I know where the ball is meant to go.

This should be a private company and I wouldnt buy it at any price until management becomes much more transparent....

Maybe you should read his letters more carefully. He is trying to turnaround retail through technology. Every brick and mortar retail store is going to be challenged by online shopping in the coming years, and Lampert is trying to beat the pack. If it doesn't work, well, he can liquidate the company for higher than its market cap value today. People forget Sears is very sensitive to the housing market due to its reliance on appliance sales, and housing is in a depression. As housing recovers, so will Sears' bottom line and liquidation value.

[txlaw]

It's about time.

Now we get to see whether the real estate under the crappiest stores is worth anything.  We'll also see if SHLD management has woken up and realized that they need to try to keep appliance market share by transitioning from a depressing full line experience at Sears to a more appliance-and tool-oriented store base.  We'll see what they do with Kmart -- I still think they should all be converted to Targets, Walmarts, and Costcos.

It's also time to really push to monetize the Lands' End brand.  Interesting that sales actually went up despite the crappy Sears experience.

Now is the time for us value guys -- even those who wouldn't touch SHLD with a 10-foot pole -- to really pay attention to what SHLD does.  I bought some more today.  Wouldn't be surprised to see it tank even further.

[alertmeipp]

It's about time.

Now we get to see whether the real estate under the crappiest stores is worth anything.  We'll also see if SHLD management has woken up and realized that they need to try to keep appliance market share by transitioning from a depressing full line experience at Sears to a more appliance-and tool-oriented store base.  We'll see what they do with Kmart -- I still think they should all be converted to Targets, Walmarts, and Costcos.

It's also time to really push to monetize the Lands' End brand.  Interesting that sales actually went up despite the crappy Sears experience.

Now is the time for us value guys -- even those who wouldn't touch SHLD with a 10-foot pole -- to really pay attention to what SHLD does.  I bought some more today.  Wouldn't be surprised to see it tank even further.

Retails turnaround is often hard and very costly.

[Myth465]

How the hell do you turn around a retail business without spending cash. Sears stores suck. They will do ok in nowheres ville but they are dead in the water in most major cities. Walmarts are cheaper and look better, not sure how you beat that, let alone Target, Best Buy, Loews....

How can you turn around a retail organization by starving it of capital and buying back stock at whatever price?
Lampert is smart and Sears will probably make money on RE or some other hidden asset, but that asset will be hidden, the plan will stay hidden, and the gains may not accrue to minority shareholders when it is all said and done.

I wont invest until I hear a credible plan, not some BS about enhancing value, turning around retail, brand management, and shrinking sharecount.

[Vish_ram]

I think Lampert's strategy would have worked 20 or even 15 years back. We live in an age of internet, with folks comparing prices using smart phones. With the entire industry reducing the number of retail locations or cutting it back, the marginal players like SHLD will get squeezed out. I have never seen or heard of a retailer that shrunk their (revenues) way to profitability & prosperity. The same goes for a retailer that never spruced up the stores. Lampert can only blame the economy for so long, the truth will be out soon.

Few months back, when I spent 5K on appliances, I didnt find any compelling prices at Sears online. i've not visited a sears store in 2 years. They've totally lost the my mind share.

Here is an option, spin off lands end, craftsman and other good brands and let that co. license to sears holding. THen slowly lead the main sears holding to bankruptcy or liquidate.

what is amazing is that the market has been right so far.

[schin]

Did you noticed he stopped buying back shares this quarter even at these depressed prices?

[rijk]

anybody considering selling puts?

jan 2012 put strike 35 @ 3.50 looks interesting
mar 2012 put strike 30 @ 4.30 also looks interesting

regards
rijk

[merkhet]

Does anyone else think that Eddie Lampert would do well to execute one of Bill Ackman's REIT spin-off ideas in the context of Sears Holdings?  (See the presentations on McDonald's, Target -- possibly J.C. Penney in the future.)

I see no reason why he can't spin off a REIT-type company for the real estate and set some long-term lease rates with inflation-indexed rent increases for the OpCo.