mish, the thought that S might GTZ is premised on the credit card business being worth less than nothing. so yes, IF they managed to sell it its no longer terminal (actually, it likely is terminal over a longer period of time 'cause they are still un-competitive vis-a-vis WalMart, Kohls, Lowes, and Best Buy and their stores, service, and merchandise still suck, but it would take a lot longer than even i can wait....)
selling the business is a pretty big "IF" though. the stock market is telling you that the credit card business is not worth jack; maybe the market is wrong though. that said, remember that Spiegel tried for a LONGGGG time to sell their receivable base and got no takers. and Providian did manage to sell off their sub-prime receivables, but at a gigantic discount to the sorts of values the stories about Sears today are talking about.
i'm not sure what to think of this. i've been out of S for a while, might look to get back in if they really do get a $4-5 pop out of this news. the fact remains that this is a retailer run by a former CFO (NEVER good) with crappy locations, horendous service (Sears mission statement -- "same crappy service as WalMart, with higher prices"), and indifferent merchandise. they are getting CRUSHED by Lowes in appliances, which along with Craftsman tools was the only good retail business they had left.
Cheers |
