Lampert

According to the NY Post's calculations, Eddie Lampert (ESL Investments) has lost $30 million an hour from his top 9 holdings since September 19th (26 trading days). Some of these top holdings include Sears (SHLD), Autozone (AZO), Autonation (AN), and Citigroup (C). The Post writes,"Lampert's Greenwich, Conn.-based ESL Investments saw its holdings in the eight companies fall by an average of $19

Here is what Sears Holdings (SHLF) Chairman has: AutoNation (AN)= 72 million shares AutoZone (AZO)= 23 million shares Sears (SHLD)= 65.6 million shares Citi (C)= 19 million shares Home Depot (HD)= 19.5 million shares Centex (CTX)= 608k shares KB Home (KB)= 358k shares SLM Corp (SLM)= 6 million shares Full Filing Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long SHLD, AN,C, none ↑ Grab this

Current numbers are in for Lampert's investment in AutoNation (AN) "As of July 31, 2008, the Filing Persons may be deemed to beneficially own an aggregate of 77,679,856 Shares (approximately 44.0% of the outstanding Shares based on the Issuer having 176,658,137 Shares outstanding on July 21, 2008, as disclosed in the Issuer’s last quarterly report on Form 10-Q). " Full Filing Disclosure (

Just a week after Bill Gates picked up 5% of the shares of AutoNation (AN), Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert purchased an additional 3.478 million shares at $9.80 to $10.35 a share Lampert now controls in excess of 75 million shares or over 43% of the company. Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long AN ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Gre

I posted the agreement between Eddie Lampert and Autozone (AZO) this morning and got a flood of questions. Reader Jeff answered 90% of them with this post. "EBITDAR- Earnings Before Dep./Amor, Interest, Taxes, Rent (lease payments). Thus, the company can take on long term debt of 2.5x its annual EBITDAR. Relatively modest leverage. The voting restriction for ESL is basically saying that, if h

AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of an additional $500 million of the Company's stock, bringing its current unused repurchase authorization to $608 million. Including the additional authorization, the cumulative share repurchase authorization approved by its Board since 1998 totals $6.4 billion. Additionally, as part of the Company's o

In an SEC filing tonight Sears' (SHLD) Eddie Lampert disclosed more purchases of auto retailer AutoNation (AN). Lampert now has just over 72 million shares or in excess of 40% of the total. Disclosure ("none" means no position): ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at

Before Glenn Murphy was even hired by the Gap I said that if the new CEO was in the Edward Lampert at Sears (SHLD) or Julian Day at RadioShack (RSH) mold, shareholders would really benefit. After he was hired I was positive on the choice based on his track record and continued to think he could produce there. After Murphy announced his plans for the company, I could not help noticing somethi

In a just release SEC filing, Edward Lampert through his ESL Partners hedge fund has upped his stake in AutoNation (AN) to 71.469 million shares or just over 40% of the total outstanding. Lampert and individual investor Todd Sullivan now have a controlling interest in the company. Full filing Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long AN ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValueP

I finally get to change the disclosure at the end of this now daily post. In a just released SEC filing Sears' (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert upped his AutoNation (AN) stake to 71.245 million shares or 39.9% of the total. Combined with my purchase of AutoNation shares today, Lampert and I effectively have control of, well, 39.9% and change (small change) of the company giving us a controlling in

Another week, another post on Sears' (SHLD) Chairman buying AutoNation (AN) shares. Lampert added over 500,000 shares bringing his ownership to 69.6 million shares or 38.9% of the total outstanding. Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long SHLD, none ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by Feed

It has been 6 months since I first posted on this. Does anyone know what Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert did to CNBC's Erin Burnett? Watch below.. Now, I have never seem a "anchor" with such a snotty almost giddy reaction to a company or its head at news that is less than wonderful. Now, had Lampert been convicted of inside trading or fraud, it would be one thing and more than just

Wish I had wrote this one......Great job Jeff "I read an article called "Sears majesty to hedge-fund dust" at the behest of a reader on the gurufocus message boards, and I have to say it is one of the most uninformed and incomplete articles I've ever read. There are so many misguided and shallow statements that it's hard to know where you'd even start to refute the allegations. Before you read m

Eddie Lampert increase his stake in auto retailer AutoNation (AN) to 69.1 million shares or 38.7% of the total outstanding this week. For more on this read this article: Filing Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at Todd Sullivan

A recent article by Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert gives some insight into recent buying activity. The article, entitled "The Best Advice I Ever Got" said: "Almost every weekend when I was 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, my father and I would toss a football in the yard or play basketball in the driveway. When we played football, he'd say, "Go out ten steps. Turn to your right." The ball

In a just disclosed SEC filing Sears Holdings Chairman Edward Lampert disclosed that through his RBS Partners hedge fund he purchased shares in both Sallie Mae (SLM) and PHH Corporation (PHH) PHH Corporation (PHH) is an outsource provider of mortgage and fleet management services. The Company operates in three segments: Mortgage Production, Mortgage Servicing and Fleet Management Services. PHH's

Lampert has a $4 billion credit line and that is unused and about $1 billion in cash at Sears Holdings (SHLD). While an outright purchase may not be in the cards, Lampert could easily take a large piece of the unit and turn Sears, already the nations largest seller of appliances into it's largest producer also. The GE (GE) unit is expected to garner between $5 and $8 billion. GE is currently th

He is like the Energizer Bunny, "still buying". Sears (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert purchases an additional 700,000 share of the auto retailer AutoNation (AN) Friday bringing his owner ship to just under 70 million shares (68.96 million) or 38.6% of the total outstanding. Lampert began aggressively adding to his stake in December of 2007 and on several occasions has added million share blocks

After several stories in the MSM and blogs yesterday erroneously said Pershings Bill Ackman flew to Sears Holdings (SHLD) annual meeting to confront Chairman Edward Lampert "because you will not take our calls", the Tribune issued a correction. "A story in Tuesday's business section mischaracterized the reason activist investor William Ackman attended the annual meeting of Sears Holdings Corp. Ackman said he flew to Hoffman Estates from New York to hear Sears Chairman Edward Lampert speak. He... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Edward Lampert added another 1 million AutoNation (AN) shares this week at between $16.25 and $16.50 a share. Lampert now controls 68.369 million shares or 38.2% of the outstanding total. Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Edward S. Lampert, billionaire and hedge fund manager, arrived at the Recession about six months late. The chairman of zombie retailer Sears (SHLD) "said the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Edward Lampert continued his buying of AutoNation (AN) shares adding an additional 400,000 shares on 4/30 at prices just under $16 He now controls 67.749 million shares or 37.9% of the total outstanding Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. --> Enter your Email Preview |... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Edie Lampert has once again increased his stake in autoNation (AN) He now owns 67.3 million shares after purchasing an additional 1.1 million shares on 4/29. He now owns 37.6% of the shares I recently wrote about the company here. Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. --> Enter your Email Preview |... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

On 4/17 Seas Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert, through his ESL Investments hedge fund purchased an additional 69,679 shares of AutoZone (AZO) and about $119 a share. This brings his ownership to just over 22.9 million shares or over 36% of the total. Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. --> Enter... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Barrons has a piece on Lampert and his recent Autozone (AZO) purchases. Below is the Barron's article: WITH AUTOZONE ON THE REBOUND, Edward Lampert -- its biggest shareholder -- spent $94 million to top off his stake in the auto-parts retailer. On Tuesday Lampert, well-known hedge-fund manager and chairman of Sears Holdings, disclosed that he now owns 22.9 million shares, or a 36.2% stake in the Memphis, Tenn.-based company. The billionaire investor purchased 807,442 shares from April 8... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

On Monday and Tuesday this week Eddie Lampert added another 167,000 shares of AutoZone (AZO) at just under $118 a share to bring his total to 22.836 million shares. He now controls 36.6% of the outstanding shares. Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. --> Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

In a just released SEC filing Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert disclosed through his RBS and ESL hedge funds he has increased his AutoZone (AZO) holdings to 22.669 million shares. This is up from 22.2 million just last week. The purchases were made 4/9 and 4/10 at about $116 a share. Lampert now holds 36% of the total outstanding Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long SHLD, None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

In an SEC filing moments ago, Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert disclosed he purchased an additional 239,000 shares of AutoZone at prices of $113 to $116 a share between 4/8 and 4/9. Lampert and affiliates now own 22.3 million shares or 36% of the total Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. ... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Lampert is still buying AutoNation (AN) shares. Lampert and his affiliates have upped their stake to over 66.25 million shares adding in excess of 250,000 shares on March 11th. He now controls over 36.8% of the outstanding shares Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert purchased an additional 1.4 million AutoNation (AN) shares between March 7th and 10th at prices ranging from $13.70 to $14.05 through his hedge funds. He now holds over 66.1 million shares or 36.7% of the total outstanding Disclosure ("none" means no position):Long SHLD, None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

In another SEC filings Thursday night Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert again added to his AutoNation (AN) stake. Lampert acquired an additional 573,200 shares of the company at prices between $15.74 and $16.32 a share on 12/12. This brings the total number of shares under his control to 58.5 million or just over 32% of the total. Shares are held by the following entities controlled by Lampert: *Shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share ("Shares"), of AutoNation, Inc.... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

In SEC filings tonight Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert added to his AutoNation (AN) stake today. Lampert acquired an additional 534,500 shares of the company at prices between $16.79 and $17.32 a share on 12/10 and 12/11. This brings the total number of shares under his control to 58 million or just over 32% of the total. Shares are held by the following entities controlled by Lampert: *Shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share ("Shares"), of AutoNation, Inc. (the... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

With all the bashing of Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert recently, I was reminded by a reader of an article from Barron's in 1999 about the demise of Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett. The whole article can be found here: The lead sentence goes "After more than 30 years of unrivaled investment success, Warren Buffett may be losing his magic touch." It then continues, "Shares in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway are set to experience their first annual decline since 1990 and their... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

In a late filing Tuesday, Eddie Lampert purchased an additional 467,609 shares of AutoNation (AN). The shares were purchased between $16.11 and $16.50 a share today. This brings his RBS Partners stake to over 39,300,000 shares. Lampert controls an additional 17,000,000 shares through other entities. They are: 1. Shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share ("Shares"), of AutoNation, Inc. (the "Issuer") are held by ESL Partners, L.P. ("Partners"). 2. Shares are held by ESL... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Does Autozone's (AZO) earnings report today is sending shares up 15% today (up 9% for the past year). Does Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman's Eddie Lampert's near 40% stake in the company now mean he is a genius again? I can't help but notice CNBC has not mentioned ONE TIME TODAY his stake in the company. Mistake? I think not. Does anyone else find it odd that post after post has hit the blogsphere and the mainstream media bashing Lampert's investments almost hourly for the past three weeks,... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Yesterday, Sears Holdings announced our results for the third quarter of 2007. While we were not pleased with these results, much of the commentary in the media and on Wall Street following the results ignores the strength of our company and the progress that we have made. In fact, over the past several years, we are one of the few retail companies that have actually reduced our overall debt levels, while at the same time investing over $1 billion on capital expenditures, making investments in inventory for our customers, contributing signific

Jesus, what did Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert do to CNBC's Erin Burnett? Did they date when she worked at Goldman Sachs (GS) or did he rebuff her advances? Perhaps she is miffed that she did not get an interview she wanted? She has been joyously drubbing this quarters performance all day today on CNBC. She does is with this sick little smile on her face too. Odd... Now, I am not saying this was a good quarter, it sucked. But, Burnett has taking it a bit farther. She spent this... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Eddie Lampert's lastest investing portfolio. He bought some C and AN stock.

Con tanta pensadera en el lomo prensado, cuyo resultado final todavía no me satisface, mi cabeza está un poco cárnica.

We added to our Citigroup (C) holdings recently and we found out today that we had Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert as a fellow buyer. According to his filing with the SEC, Lampert's ESL Investments held 27.8 million Citigroup shares at the end of September up from 24.8 at the end of Q2 and 15 million in Q1. This makes Citi ESL's third largest holdings behind Sears and AutoNation (AN). Also during the quarter he sold his 625,000 shares of wireless handset maker Motorola (MOT) during the... Continued at Todd Sullivan's ValuePlays

Some thoughts on the effect of current credit conditions and whether or not they now give Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert an opportunity to make a long awaited acquisition at prices he will pay. Drastically tightened credit markets have lead to a sudden withdrawal by PE firms making potential buyouts. With both credit and terms of it becoming less advantageous, many deals that PE firms would have made before are now attractive only to strategic buyers who can merge operations. A look... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

In mid May I wrote a post about selling my Citigroup shares to Sears Holdings (SHLD) Chairman and ESL leader Eddie Lampert. In it I lamented the fact that I was thinking along the same lines as Lampert but did not stick to my guns and bailed on Citi (C) shares at the same time Lampert was buying them. I vowed not to make the same mistake again and re-entered my Citi position. This turned out to be a great test as recent events (has anyone heard anything about a credit market issue?) have... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Yesterday I said the only thing I really cared about was the number of shares Wal-Mart (WMT) bought back in the last three months and a minimum of 22 million shares was the number I was looking for. The results were released today and the share count was reduce from 4,128,0000 shares to 4,102,000 in the last three months for a total 26 million share reduction. Good, but for some reason I am not totally happy. The reason? They updated their full year guidance for earnings per share from... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Sears Holdings (SHLD)chairman Eddie Lampert was a busy buyer last month Sears said it spent $800 million in the last month buying back stock and said its board approved an additional $1.5 billion repurchase plan. The company bought back $1.5 billion in stock during the second quarter at an average price of $153. A $3 billion total buyback, big deal. Well, it is really. $3 billion represent 15% of Sears Holdings current market cap and that is a very big deal. Also, unlike the massive buyback... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Land's End has great, stylish products at great prices. Why don't more people know they can go to their local Sears (SHLD) to buy them? At first I thought they just were not paying attention (or reading my blog) but then I began to look around. Not a single Sears commercial I have seen tells us Land End merchandise is available at stores. When I get my flyer in the newspaper each week, there isn't anything special telling me that I can buy Lands End clothing at Sears. When I get my... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

There was an article yesterday in "Financial Week" magazine about Sears Holding's (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert. The first sentence in the article denotes to tone of the misguided prose to follow: "Time is running out for Edward Lampert, the hedge fund manager who controls Sears Holdings." Okay, let's just ignore the basic fact Lampert controls 50% of the company and until HE decides he is done, he will be in charge of Sears. Let's also ignore the almost two decades of 29% annual returns... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

So here is the financial nitty gritty. Sears Holdings (SHLD) said this morning it expected quarterly profit of $160 million to $200 million, or $1.06 to $1.32 a share, including special items. Those special items would be an after-tax gain of about $12 million from bankruptcy-related settlements and total return swap investing activities, Sears expects to earn 98 cents to $1.24 per share. A gain on the total return swaps is good news.Last year in Q2, Sears earned $294 million, or $1.88 a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

CNBC reports that Eddie Lampert, Chairman of Sears Holdings (SHLD) is raising money through his former firm Goldman Sachs (GS)for a hedge fund. For folks looking for him to begin to spend Sears' cash hoard, this is real good news. It clearly means he sees investments he wants to make out there. I my opinion it smells of him wanting to do a mega deal and is adding dollars to his coffers. Between the money he raises, the $4 billion in Sears cash he has available and multiples of that in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

So you want to buy shares in Sear Holdings (SHLD) but aren't sure if this is a good price level? Apparently Eddie Lampert feels the current price is just fine. Between May 5 and May 25 the share count was reduced from 153.7 million and 152,492,175 shares according to today's 10Q. That means Lampert bought back 1.2 million shares at prices ranging from ranged from $175 to $182. This is the first meaningful repurchase of shares in 6 months as in the most recent quarter Sears bought back no stock... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The following are remarks from Eddie Lampert, Chairman of Sears Holdings (SHLD) to a conference held at the Third Avenue Mangement Investors Conference in 2003. It should be noted that this is prior to the Sears aquisition that created the Sears Holdings we today know. It should also be noted that Third Avenue was also a large investor in Sears along with Lampert. His insights into the Kmart deal almost creates the bluprint for the reasoning of the Sears one. These items are so informative... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

In September last year I bought shares of then Citigroup, now just Citi (C). I bought them because at the time they were trading at about 10 times earnings and had a dividend yield of over 4%. I paid $48 and change a share and then turned around it would appear and sold to them to greatest value investor of my generation, Eddie Lampert in December for $54 a share and a 12.5% gain in roughly 3 months. So why am I upset? I am upset because I seem to have had this almost pathological inability... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Con tanta pensadera en el lomo prensado, cuyo resultado final todavía no me satisface, mi cabeza está un poco cárnica.

"What we've got here.........is a failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach...." Strother Martin in "Cool Hand Luke" Yesterday I was doing my reading on Seeking Alpha and came across Chad Brand's blog The Peridot Capitalist and his post pertaining to RadioShack (RSH). Since he was the first to recommend it as far as I know, I will direct you to his site when my posts reference them (got to give credit where it is due). Moody's investment rating services recently downgraded the debt of The Shack saying: "Moody's Investor Services downgraded RadioShack Corp.'s long-term senior unsecured rating and short-term commercial paper Monday on lackluster sales and operations. The ratings agency lowered the electronics retailer's senior unsecured rating to "Ba1" from "Baa3." The move means the company's senior unsecured rating is no longer investment grade. Moody's also cut RadioShack's commercial paper rating to "Not Prime" from "Prime-3." After reading it, the

Last weekend I listed what I thought were the notable comments from Warren's letter to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Since I have entrusted the largest portion of my personal portfolio to Eddie Lampert at Sears Holdings, I ought to post the important "notables" from his. Retail Operations "Lands’ End had a record year in profitability in its traditional business (i.e., catalog, online, and inlet stores). In addition, we saw a significant improvement in the profit performance of Lands’ End merchandise in our Sears stores. With a new leadership team and a more integrated approach to working across Sears Holdings, the business is moving in the right direction. Our customers are embracing the opportunity to buy Lands’ End quality merchandise in our stores, on the phone, and on the Internet, and we are working hard to make Lands’ End available across more of the chain." If anyone has seen the Land's End "store in a store" concept in Sears, it is a real winner. I am fast

Having mention Gap (GPS) as a possible investment in a previous post , we must revisit the most recent conference call to see if any of the goals we set for it are being met. Gap earnings call highlights (at least the ones that matter to me) -2006 Earnings down and 2007 does not look much better- No surprise -Closing Forth & Towne. Given the sales, productivity levels, and the traffic momentum we had seen to date, they felt that the probability of achieving an acceptable return on investment from a full rollout of the brand was too low. As a result, they will close 19 Forth & Towne stores by the end of June, 2007. - Converting Old Navy outlet stores to Old Navy stores. Given the change in competitive environment, there is no longer a clear distinction between the two businesses. They expect to convert the 45 outlet stores by October of this year. This decision has no impact on Gap Outlet and Banana Republic factory stores. - In addition to gaining cost... [[ This