Sears suffers 3Q loss on weak US, Kmart sales

Hefty charges and poor results at its U.S. stores led Sears Holdings Corp. to post a bigger-than-expected loss for the third quarter on Tuesday, and the struggling retailer withdrew its operating profit outlook because of the nation's recession.

The suburban Chicago-based company, led by financier Edward Lampert who is the retailer's chairman, also boosted its stock buyback plan by $500 million to $572 million.

Sears lost $146 million, or $1.16 per share, during the three months ending Nov. 1. That compares with a profit of $4 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same period last year. Excluding a hefty charge related to 14 store closings and gains on Sears Canada hedges, Sears posted a loss of 90 cents per share in the latest period.

Revenue dropped more than 8 percent to $10.66 billion from $11.62 billion as the company's Sears department store's comparable sales slid 10.6 percent in the U.S. Same-store sales at Kmart, the company's discount brand, slipped 7 percent. Total same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, a key retail industry metric, fell 9 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a much smaller loss of 49 cents per share on higher revenue of $10.93 billion.