Sears goes for the profit

Sears announced its fourth quarter results -- mixed, to say the least. Down 12% in same-store sales, but double the profit.

I'm a big believer in profit -- I often question companies, retail or manufacturing, who put excessive emphasis on market share. So I should be lauding Eddie Lampert when he says, "Success must include profitable growth. We are not focused on sales or sales growth as an end in itself."

I totally agree. But I also look at that -12% and wonder how much of that anyone can take. A positive even in the comp sales area, though, was that Kmart was up by 0.9%, their first increase in that metric since the second quarter of 2001. It's not much of an increase, but after a seventeen-game losing streak, any win is big.

Sears is going to be fun to watch.