Lex Luz

Numbers Check on Sears Holdings - It's Cheap

Home Services generates significant margins. This is the only piece of this business that has legs in my opinion (disclosure: I worked for SHLD for a short while).

The Kmart brand is a millstone around the neck of the company, tied to an anchor, hurled off the ship in a gross of cement shoes. Saying that the brand is hopelessly void of value gives it way too much credit. The Sears brand is not that far behind.

What they have are a few decent merchants and a couple of great brands, as you mentioned. Eddie's not an operator but pushes knowledgable senior management around as if he is. I left before Lewis got pushed out but you could see the writing on the wall. Johnson knows the business probably better than anyone but I would be very surprised if he gets the leeway to make the calls he wants with Eddie and Crowley hanging over his desk like a summer fog on the Golden Gate.

I'd sniff at SHLD for a trade from time to time but that's about it.