Sears 3Q loss widens; appliance, clothing sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Sears Holdings Corp.'s third-quarter loss nearly doubled, dragged down by weak revenue at its long-suffering Sears chain, hurt by poor sales of appliances and clothing.

Business at its Kmart discount stores held up better, but they still saw a key revenue measure edge downward. The chain is expected to face even more pressure in the holiday quarter amid stiffer competition from rivals like Target and Wal-Mart. The miserable results renewed discussion on Wall Street on why the two chains combined in 2005 in the first place.

"They have to do something to stem this," said Michael Dart, retail strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates. "You do get to a tipping point."

Shares fell $4.04, or more than 6 percent, to $62.16 in late afternoon trading.

Sears Holdings, led by billionaire Eddward Lampert, posted a loss of $218 million, or $1.98 per share. That compares with a loss of $127 million, or $1.09 per share, in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected $1.08 per share.