I Want My Buyback Back......" Sears / Eddie Lampert Edition"

This is even worse than Daimler ( see How Daimler Wasted € 7 Billion On Buybacks In Just 15 Months...... ). Unbelievable that only 24 month ago Eddie "the Eagle" Lampert was viewed as the next Warren Buffet and was the paid hedge funds guy...... But with his current holdings ( see ESL Holdings i´ll bet that he will be out of business very soon.......

Dieses Beispiel schafft es sogar Daimler vom Sockel ( siehe How Daimler Wasted € 7 Billion On Buybacks In Just 15 Months...... ) zu stossen. Unfassbar das Eddie "the Eagle" Lampert noch vor 24 Monaten als der nächste Warren Buffet gefeiert worden ist und als einer der bestbezahlten Hedgefondsmanager gegolten hat...... Wenn man einen Blick auf seine aktuellen Beteilgungen wirft ( siehe ESL Holdings ) dürfte klar sein das dieser Typ demnächst ausgezockt hat..... Bin mir ziemlich sicher das die Rubrik "I Want My Buyback Back" demnächst das Potential hat täglich für "Betroffenheit" zu sorgen.....

Since the third quarter of fiscal 2005, when our repurchase plan was first approved, we have repurchased approximately 41.4 million of our common shares at a total cost of $4.9 billion pursuant to the program. As of November 28, 2008, we had approximately 123.6 million common shares outstanding.

> You do the math........ My calculator shows something close to $ 117........ To put things into perspective......Todays marketcap is just 4.5 billion........

> Wer nachrechnen möchte dürfte wie ich auf ne Summe nahe von 117 $ kommen...... Um das ganze besser ins Verhältnis zu setzen sollte man wissen das die Marktkapitalisierung heute knapp 4,5 Mrd $ beträgt......

> More "healthy" news from the latest Sears release

> Mehr "gesunde" Details der letzten Sears Veröffentlichung.......

During the first three quarters of 2008, significant uses of cash included share repurchases of $558 million (as discussed further below), capital expenditures of $395 million, pension contributions of $204 million, net long-term debt repayments of $196 million and payments on commercial paper borrowings of $129 million. These amounts were offset by a $1.9 billion increase in short-term borrowings, primarily through borrowing on our $4 billion credit facility. Had $94 million of our short-term investment in The Reserve Primary Fund been available short-term borrowings would have increased by $1.8 billion.

Our domestic comparable store sales declined 8.7% during the month of November 2008. This decline includes a decline in comparable store sales of 7.8% at Sears Domestic and 10.0% at Kmart. The month of November 2008 includes two days of the holiday shopping season compared to the month of November 2007 which included nine days due to a one-week shift in the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Company also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to an additional $500 million of the Company's common shares. This authorization is in addition to the $72 million worth of shares that currently remain available for repurchase under the Company's existing repurchase program

Bruce Johnson ( probably the 3rd ceo/cfo since Lampert took over / der gefühlte 3. oder 4. CEO/CFO seit Lampert das Zepter übernommen hat ) commented, "

After careful consideration and a review of the company's valuation, prospects, cash flow and liquidity, we believe that our shares represent an attractive investment for our shareholders

Given the difficult retail environment and its effect on our free cash flow, we have reduced our rate of repurchases throughout 2008 as we worked to retain flexibility to pursue opportunities and address contingencies. With significant assets and cash flow, we believe Sears Holdings has the flexibility to continue to invest in our business, repay debt, and consider acquisitions opportunities as well."

Have heard similar "wisdoms" before ( see Eddie Lampert Is Averaging Down.....)

Habe ähnliche Weisheiten schon zuvor gehört ( siehe Eddie Lampert Is Averaging Down..... )

March 2007

We allocate capital to initiatives that we believe will provide the greatest returns and create the most value for our shareholders. 2006 was no different, as we deployed capital to repurchase shares,......., as follows: $816 million used for share repurchases (we repurchased over 6 million shares in the year at an average price of about $133 per share);

> Definitley a new quality of the phrase " provide greatest return & most value for shareholders".........

> Definitiv ein neue ganz neue Bedeutung der Begriffe "greatest return & sharholdervalue"....

August 2007

The company repurchased 9.6 million of its shares for a total of $1.5 billion during the second quarter ( $ 156,25 )

November 2007

We repurchased 6.7 million common shares at a total cost of $0.9billion (or $131.72 per share) under our share repurchase program duringthe third quarter of fiscal 2007

Jan 2008

During the ten weeks ended January 11, 2008, we repurchased 4.9 million common shares at a total cost of $513 million (or $105.46 per share) under our share repurchase program.

> Too bad that Sears isn´t important enough for a bailout......... :-)

> Zu dumm das Sears für einen Bailout zu unbedeutend ist......... :-)