Sears narrows loss in Q2; Lampert stock buy sends shares upward

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. reported Thursday a loss of $132 million for the second quarter, tightened from a loss of $146 million in the year-ago period. Sales dropped 6.6% to $9.47 billion and same-store sales declined as well, by 2.9% at U.S. Sears stores and by 4.7% at its Kmart units.



As part of its turnaround attempts, CFO Rob Schriesheim told Bloomberg that the retailer is adding mobile checkout systems, as well as offering credit card and layaway program promotions to spur sales. It is already in a heavy cash-generation mode with the spinoff of its Hometown, Hardware and Outlet stores and the partial spinoff of its Canadian arm.



Also on Friday, Sears Holdings chairman Eddie Lampert made a hefty 2.4 million share purchase at $52.75/share, sending shares of Sears Holdings Corp. upward.