From the press release: “Sears Holdings Corporation today announced domestic comparable store sales for the nine-week period ended July 7, 2007 for its Kmart and Sears stores. This period represents the first nine weeks of the Company’s thirteen-week fiscal 2007 second quarter which ends August 4, 2007. For the nine-week period, Kmart comparable store sales decreased by 3.9 percent, with declines across most categories. Sears domestic comparable store sales decreased by 4.0 percent, with declines across most categories partially offset by increases in women’s apparel and footwear. While comparable store sales within home appliances declined to a higher degree than declines recorded across most other categories for this period, the decline in home appliances was less than the decline experienced in this category during the first quarter of this fiscal year.

The interesting part is analysts did not downgrade the stock. I would have expected some analyst to come out with a strong sell or lower their price targets for 2007. Just didn’t happen.

Another takeaway from today was the average price of the buybacks for the past nine weeks was $174.67 per share. At $154/share, SHLD should be buying hand over fist. If shares continue to be depressed for a while, SHLD should be able to buy back an additional 7.3 million shares reducing the shares outstanding to 143.6 million shares. If the outstanding shares ever get to the 130 million shares level, ESL Investment will hold over 50% of the float.

On a final note, what is Lampert up to with the recent raising $3-5 billion for his hedge fund? Will ESL try to increase their SHLD position, or buy a bigger stake in Citigroup?

Long positions in SHLD and Citigroup.

Sears Holdings Announces Second Quarter Outlook and Increased Share Repurchase Authorization - searsholdings.com