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Sears' Q1 Surprise Profits May Be Fleeting

No one will mention that Sears Holdings gross margin was the 2nd highest in the history of the merged company. NO ONE will mention that. That's why the earnings blew away expectations. The business may be in decline, but it's being run well given the situation. Also, if they just reported the 2nd highest gross margin in the history of the company, then ask yourself, What happens when housing recovers?

All my life i was told that investing in cigarette companies was a bad idea because they didn't have a sustainable business model, as their customer base is literally dying every day. Smoking has been declining for 40 years straight, yet Philip Morris, i believe, has been the best performing large cap stock at nearly any point of those 40 years. Why? Because the stock has been priced at distressed levels for so long, yet the company keeps churning out cash through cost cuts, consolidation, running the business better, and it keeps sending that cash to shareholders via share buybacks at distressed prices. As long as Sears remains at distressed prices (below net inventory value qualifies), then all they need to do is run the company for cash and buy back stock. That's it. Game over. In a few years, there won't be any float left. Unless you can argue the retail operations won't survive a few more years, the stock is a bargain.

Autozone: Lampert's Bad Investment Up 70% in 6 Months

I like how in an article titled "Lampert's bad investment up 70% in 6 months" you actually make the statement... "when measuring Lampert and Buffett, we need to look back after years, not 6 months."

by the way... Lampert has 19 million SHARES of Home Depot, not $19 million dollars... For someone who hangs on his every word, i'm surprised you missed that.

AutoNation, Sears, and Autozone Getting Closer Together

I agree that the plan is to eventually have AN and SHLD combined, but as an AutoNation shareholder, what worries me is that regardless of how undervalued the shares are today, Sears could take it over with minimal premium. ESL already owns nearly 44% of AN shares. SHLD has the balance sheet to to pay with cash. If Eddie Lampert has control over both entities, he's not going to pay a penny more than necessary to bring the two together.