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Strategies & Market Trends : Can you beat 50% per month? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (13730)	4/18/2008 5:12:51 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19256

SHLD - this sucks- Couldn't get filled on puts for May and lost a ton on expiring Apr. This news doesn't sound so good for them Screw tightening at best. --- Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement Item 1.02. Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement On April 14, 2008, Bank of America, N.A., as Issuing Bank under the Letter of Credit Agreement dated as of August 13, 2004, as amended (the "LC Agreement"), among Sears Holdings Corporation, Sears Roebuck Acceptance Corp., Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corporation and Bank of America, N.A., advised us that it would not agree to renew the LC Agreement under its existing terms. The current term of the LC Agreement, which is a 364-day secured facility with a commitment amount of up to $1.0 billion, is scheduled to end in July 2008. At April 18, 2008, only $1.6 million in letters of credit were outstanding under the LC Agreement, which provides solely for the issuance of letters of credit and does not provide for direct borrowings. Substantially all of our outstanding letters of credit are issued under our $4.0 billion, five-year revolving credit facility (expiring March 2010), which has a $1.5 billion letter of credit sublimit (the "$4 Billion Revolver"). We have maintained the LC Agreement as a facility to enable the Company to cost-effectively issue letters of credit when surplus cash is available to collateralize the letters of credit. As we are now using our other facility (the $4.0 Billion Revolver) for substantially all our letter of credit needs, the termination of the LC Agreement is not expected to have any effect on Sears Holdings' liquidity. No early termination penalties or fees would be incurred by us if the LC Agreement were to terminate at the end of the current term. We are evaluating whether or not we will replace the LC Agreement at this time.

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (13730)	8/28/2008 10:06:06 AM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19256

SHLD -85.77 This actually opened up above 89!!! Eddie doing his best damage control Not in currently, but the paint is starting to wash off Sears Holdings profit falls short, forecast cut Thursday August 28, 9:44 am ET By Karen Jacobs ATLANTA (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp (NasdaqGS:SHLD - News) posted a quarterly profit that fell far short of Wall Street expectations and cut its full-year earnings forecast as consumers scaled back shopping in a weak U.S. economy. ADVERTISEMENT The retailer controlled by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert said on Thursday it expects the U.S. housing slump, coupled with higher food and gas prices, to pressure sales at its Kmart and Sears, Roebuck stores for the rest of the year. Shares fell 0.5 percent to $86.56 in early trading. Analysts said the economic slowdown alone was not to blame for a disappointing performance at Sears Holdings, which has been rebuilding its management team and introducing new merchandise to improve results. "Sears, we believe, is in secular decline, aggravated near term by a recession, but its (same-store sales) have been negative for over three years," Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter wrote. "Kmart is on even a steeper decline." Net income fell to $65 million, or 50 cents a share, for the quarter ended August 2, down from $173 million, or $1.15 a share, a year earlier. Excluding the positive impact of a reserve tied to an overturned jury verdict, profit came to 21 cents a share. Analysts on average had expected 33 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 4 percent to $11.8 billion. Sears Holdings faces competition from many chains, including Kohl's Corp (NYSE:KSS - News) in clothing, Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT - News) in general merchandise, and Home Depot (NYSE:HD - News) and Lowe's Cos (NYSE:LOW - News) in appliances and tools. SAME-STORE SALES Sales at stores open at least a year fell 6.7 percent at U.S. Sears stores and 5.6 percent at Kmart stores, bringing total U.S. same-store sales down 6.2 percent. Sears Holdings noted that the second-quarter same-store sales declines were less than those in its first quarter, when the total drop amounted to 8.6 percent. Analysts said the second-quarter numbers were probably helped by consumers spending U.S. tax rebate checks. The company added that the lower same-store sales were mainly driven by housing-related products like appliances and tools, but it noted increases in electronics sales. Sears Holdings, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is trying to restructure its business to draw customers and reverse a year-long earnings slump. The company posted a surprise first-quarter loss in May and declining profit for the previous three quarters. The retailer has been looking for a permanent CEO since January and has seen a number of executives depart lately. To cope with the weak environment, Sears has been trying to hold down costs. Selling, general and administrative expenses fell about 4 percent in the second quarter. But gross margin shrank to 26.5 percent from 27.7 percent a year earlier, hurt by increased markdowns to move goods. "While it was a difficult quarter, we were successful in reducing our domestic inventory levels by $500 million which should lead to lower markdowns and favorably impact our gross margin rates in the second half," Interim Chief Executive W. Bruce Johnson said in a statement. The company cut its full-year forecast for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, saying it no longer expects to top last year's EBITDA. The company's cash position was $1.5 billion as of August 2, down from $2.6 billion a year earlier. (Editing by Dave Zimmerman)