Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) has had a rough ride during the past few years as the company struggled to stay afloat in an increasingly choppy industry. Major department stores have been rocked by customers’ shift toward online shopping, and Sears is no exception. SHLD stock has fallen 85 percent during the past five years.

Sears has a lot of problems that make it a poor investment choice, but the biggest red flag for SHLD stock is the company’s CEO, Eddie Lampert. As things went from bad to worse for Sears, Lampert shelled out loan after loan to keep the beleaguered department store going. On the surface that might look like the actions of a CEO who loves his firm, but when you look a little bit closer it’s clear Lampert is looking out for himself. If you haven’t already headed for the exit, it’s time to do so, because SHLD stock is going down and shareholders will likely be left with nothing.

Lampert the Creditor

One of the only reasons Sears is still standing today is because of Eddie Lampert’s funding. Together with his hedge fund, ESL Investments, Lampert owns nearly half of the firm’s secured debt. So when Sears finally declares bankruptcy, a conclusion that most agree is on the horizon, Lampert will be first in line to collect on what’s left of the business.

The reason that’s troubling is that it blurs the line between managing the company and recouping losses. Shareholders can’t be sure whether Lampert the CEO or Lampert the creditor is calling the shots right now. However, considering the state of affairs at Sears right now, you can assume that the latter is influencing some of the business decisions.

Lampert the Real Estate Mogul

Not only does Lampert have a ticket to the front of the collections line when things go south for SHLD, but he has also been benefitting from the store’s weak position. In order to stay afloat, Sears had to sell off its real estate assets, and Lampert bought many of them to create an REIT called Seritage Growth Properties (NYSE:SRG).

In order to stay out of trouble with regulators, Lampert had to keep SHLD going until at least July 10, as that marks two years after the real estate sale. Bankruptcy law might have seen Lampert’s sale of Sears’ real estate to himself as a way to get assets off the books and avoid turning them over to creditors if Sears had filed within two years. However, now that the required time period has passed, Lampert is free to file without being scrutinized.

Nothing Left

The reason it’s hard to believe that Lampert is truly trying to orchestrate a turnaround is that his decision making has left Sears with very few growth prospects. In order to keep the company going, SHLD has had to sell off its assets- some of which might have been the company’s only lifelines.

The firm has systematically sold off its most profitable assets– first opting to sell some of its most valuable brick-and-mortar locations, then spinning off Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE) in 2014. More recently, the firm sold its Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (NYSE:SWK) brand of tools to bring in an additional $900 million. While there’s no debating that SHLD had to do something, Lampert’s asset sales decisions are questionable because they’ve left Sears without a path to profitability.

This year, when the firm decided to part with SWK at a time when home improvement retailers like Home Depot (NYSE:HD) were bucking the retail slump, it raised a few red flags. Did Lampert really see a future for SHLD like he claimed, or was he just trying to make it past the July 10 deadline? Without Black & Decker, Sears had very little chance of ever turning a profit.

What About Amazon?

Sears stock has risen nearly 10% over the past three months, and a lot of those gains were made after the firm announced its decision to sell Kenmore appliances through Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). The deal will almost certainly boost Kenmore sales, and it will probably help Amazon build out its appliance business, but what it won’t do is help SHLD investors.

There’s little reason to believe Kenmore will see an astronomical increase in sales just because the firm has started making its products available on Amazon. Amazon’s sales only make up a small fraction of the overall appliances market, so although selling through the e-commerce giant will probably expose new customers to the brand, it’s unlikely to boost Kenmore sales enough to make a meaningful contribution to Sears’ profit problems.

More troubling is that selling through Amazon will likely take away from sales that might have otherwise been made directly through Sears. It might even be the final straw for Sears as a retailer- Kenmore was one of the few weapons left in the firm’s arsenal. So, while an Amazon partnership will make Kenmore stronger, it won’t do the same for SHLD.

The Bottom Line

SHLD investors won’t see any benefit from the Kenmore/Amazon partnership, but Sears’ creditors probably will. A strong Kenmore brand will be one of the assets used to payoff creditors when Sears files for bankruptcy, and guess who will be first in line to cash in on Kenmore’s success when Sears finally files?

Eddie Lampert is bad news for SHLD investors, so even if you can overlook the firm’s underwhelming financials, he is one big reason to jump ship.

As of this writing, Laura Hoy was long AMZN.