Will Eddie Lampert succeed? Friday, November 30, 2007
Posted by ei-forum in Miscellaneous.trackback
In a recent article, the Wall Street Journal Online is accusing Eddie Lampert of having ‘lost his luster’, suggesting that he will not follow in the footsteps of Warren Buffet. Read article: here.
Since Sears posted much weaker than expected 3rd quarter results, decreasing Lampert’s stake by nearly 1 billion dollars, most commentators have started to bash Lampert once again. Sears is not the only soar point at this moment in time as the AutoZone and AutoNation positions are suffering along with the ill-timed entry into Citigroup.
What is Lampert trying to do with Sears? Some hoped, it would have become an holding vehicle like Berkshire Hathaway but it seems as though he is still trying to concentrate on the retail side which clearly seems to be going down the drain. For an interesting take on Sears as a holding company please read the following article: here.
Despite the fact that things are not looking for good for Lampert at the moment, we feel that it is still to early to judge and that as true value investors, we should give him the benefit of the doubt and look back on these events and results in a couple of years time.
Stumble It!
Explore Investors Blog Network
If you think that ESL takes a dart and throws it at a dartboard, you have no place in this arena. In the case of Sears, I invite you to visit the Sears Max in Austin Texas. I must also remind you that retail stores have long term leases on many of their locations. To paraphrase, it is intelligent to keep a marginal location open and breaking even (which is what Sears did with their so-called disaster 3Q) and wait for better times than to close and still make payments on an empty store…thats a true loss and you have to deal with employees, dated equipment etcetra.
Sears did not lose money. It suffers from lots of problems created by the previous administration. I trade as much as I can with them to both support them and moniter their performance. I go to a unit in a large mall with lots of competition and their old employees stink. It takes time to correct the damages that are systemic. Sears is a worldwide respected name with a little tarnish on it. Tarnish can be removed.
As for citi and an, I bought a bunch of an, i think i know what he is up to, and it will be both fun and profitable to be involved.