Department store chain Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) reported a significantly narrower fourth-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of $489 million, or $4.61 per share, versus last year's loss of $2.40 billion, or $22.63 per share. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.12 this quarter.
The firm clocked revenues of $12.26 billion for the quarter, down compared with $12.48 billion in the earlier year period, due mainly to the separation at the end of the third quarter of the Sears Hometown and Outlet businesses, the effect of having fewer Kmart and Sears Full-line stores in operation and lower comparable store sales, partially offset by the inclusion of an additional week of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012.
On average, 2 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.98, on $11.77 billion revenue for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
For the quarter, domestic comparable-store sales slid 1.6%, including a 3.7% decline at Kmart and a 0.8% rise at Sears Domestic. Excluding the consumer electronics category, total domestic comparable-store sales decreased 0.2% with Sears Domestic growing 2.4% and Kmart decreasing 2.5%.
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