Troubled retailer Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD), which was formed by a 2005 merger of Sears and Kmart, was thrown out of the S&P 500 as of September 4. It will be replaced by specialty chemical company LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB), which is based in the Netherlands.
Sears has been a failure since it was formed by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, who still controls the company.
Over the past five years, Sears shares are down by 60%. The retail chain has been consistently out-flanked by Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT), which have each become much larger in sales. Last year, Sears revenue was $41.5 billion one which it lost $3.1 billion. Wal-mart had sales of $447 billion and net income of of $15. 7 billion. Target had revenue of $69.9 billion and net income of $2.9 billion.
Sears,which has been battered and beaten by both the press and Wall St. will get the same treatment again as it loses one of its last important features — its membership in the S&P 500.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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