Sears Continues Tumble After Land’s End Spin-Off

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) continues to drop after completing its spin-off of Lands’ End Inc. (NASDAQ: LE), which began trading Monday on the Nasdaq.

Sears Holdings has long struggled with weak top-line performance and even weaker bottom-line results. So to enhance liquidity and improve operating performance, the company has focused on shedding parts of the company that no longer contribute significantly to growth. Such divestitures include the spin-off of its Orchard Supply Hardware Stores unit in 2011 and the Sears Hometown and Outlet business in 2012. But it seems that as more parts of the once-iconic retailer company disappear, the less investors feel it is worth.

Sears acquired Lands’ End back in 2002 for about $1.9 billion, but it was an uncomfortable fit from the beginning. Lands’ End customers tended to be more affluent than Sears customers, who did not care for the preppy-casual look that typified Lands’ End. The market value of Lands’ End is now about $1 billion. And the stock’s performance so far suggests shareholders are not particularly interested in holding the former Sears subsidiary either.

Shares of Sears dropped about 6.3% Monday, and they were down 4.2% in late morning trading Tuesday to $36.50. They have traded in a range of $26.62 to $54.70 in the past year. In addition, Sears was one of the retailers closing the most stores.

Lands’ End shares ended their first day of regular trading about 6.7% lower. They were down more than 8% at one point in morning trading Tuesday to $26.77.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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