Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD) is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings report this Thursday. Sears’ had a tough year, but let’s find out if SHLD stock’s earnings forecast looks promising.
Sears – Company Overview
Sears is a retailer that operates in the U.S. and Canada. Sears’ brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard. Sears also owns Kmart Corporation, which sells brands like Joe Boxer and Jaclyn Smith.
Sears has 1,980 full-line and specialty retails stores in the U.S. and 449 stores in Canada. Sears employs 249,000 full-time employees and brought in $36 billion in revenue last year.
Sears – Earnings Rundown
Analysts’ estimates for Sears’ third-quarter earnings report look bleak. Sears is expected to post a loss of $3.31 per share, even worse than the loss of $2.95 per share year over year.
Revenue is estimated to be $6.88 billion, representing a 16.8% drop over last year. Plus, Sears doesn’t appear that it will benefit from any holiday cheer, either. For the fourth quarter, Sears is expected to post a loss of $2.71 per share on $8.89 billion in revenue.
Sears – Current Ratings
For the better part of the past year, Sears stock has remained stuck at a “sell” rating mostly due to weak institutional buying pressure. SHLD stock currently earns a “D” for its Quantitative Grade.
Sears’ fundamentals could use some serious improvement. Of the eight fundamental metrics I graded SHLD on, five earned failing grades: Sales growth, earnings momentum, analyst earnings revisions, cash flow and return on equity. Meanwhile, operating margin growth, earnings growth and earnings surprises have lackluster “C” grades. Sears earns a “D” for its overall Fundamental Grade.
As of this posting, Dec. 2, I consider SHLD a “D-rated sell.” I don’t see any upside ahead for Sears as we head into its next earnings report.
Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of five investing newsletters: Blue Chip Growth, Emerging Growth, Ultimate Growth, Family Trust and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Blue Chip Growth, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.
