Value Investing News

Sears Holdings (SHLD)

Over the past week, we surveyed 30 Sears stores across the United States to track sales trends of and business levels in March. We asked the following questions

1. Do you have excess inventory of any particular product or brand of product that will go on sale or discount soon?
2. What is the top selling brand of clothes right now?
3. Is the economy negatively affecting your sales?
4. How is business compared to business last month?

• 50% of respondents said they did have excess inventory, most often citing washing machines and other household appliance or kitchen related products. 50% of respondents said they did not have excess inventory in their stores.
• Levi's was seen as the top selling clothing brand according to 20% of respondents. 17% cited Apostrophe as the top brand while 10% cited Adidas.
• 53% of respondents said that the poor economy had impacted sales at their store locations. 47% said that the economy was not negatively impacting their store. 
• 40% said that business in March was “Above Average” while another 7% said business was “Very Strong” in March. This positive trend in responses matches results we have seen from our recent Target (TGT) and Walmart surveys (WMT) .   33% said business was “Average” while 20% said it was below average.

Conclusion of Channel Check:  The data in this report is shows improvement in inventory levels and business trends at Sears. While the Sears results have improved since our last survey, they are tracking below the improvements seen in Target and Walmart with more people still reporting excess inventory and “Below Average” sales in March. Levi's and Apostrophe brands look to be selling well at Sears.

For access to the underlying survey or for more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com