Eddie Lampert is now CEO at Sears

Fast Eddie Lampert, as he is sometimes known around here, has taken control of Sears once again with the departure of Lou D'Ambrosio for family medical reasons.

Look at this as an interim solution for the successful hedge fund manager until a seasoned retail executive is recruited and chosen.

Eddie Lampert jumps on the Netflix bandwagon

Now it is Eddie Lampert's turn to jump on Netflix for fun, action and profits.

Eddie, via RBS Partners, bought 704, 381 shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) worth $38, 346,501.

Corporate Raider Carl Icahn has put Netflix in play with his nearly 10% stake in the company. Netflix implemented a “poison pill plan” against Mr. Icahn.

"There is a very good argument that, at the right premium, somebody should buy Netflix." -- Carl Icahn

We will watch, with some interest, how Eddie Lampert, Carl Icahn and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings battle it out.

Fortune Jumps on the Sears Bandwagon

Just like the Wall Street Journal this month, it is now Fortune-CNNMoney-TermSheet's turn to jump on the Sears bandwagon and honor the "turnaround" that is still in its infancy after oh these so many years.

Fortune says: "The turnaround at one of the nation's largest retailers is good news for Eddie Lampert and hedge funds in general."

Read more, Eddie Lampert groupies. Read more.


Fortune Article: "Fast" Eddie may end up saving Sears


Fortune, bullish on SHLD for a reason:

Eddie Lampert and Sears: Is This Move More Than a Dead Cat Bouncing?

Eddie Lampert, formerly known as The Next Warren Buffett, is Chairman of Sears Holding Corp.

Eddie, throughout 2012, has been desperately trying to prove to Wall Street that Sears is not a "dead cat bouncing." But, rather, a sustained growth move to the upside.

Amazingly, so far in 2012, Chairman Eddie is seeing some success contrary to critics (including Think Billions). Sears stock is up an amazing 60% YTD this year.

The Wall Street Journal, always up for jumping on a stock bandwagon, is sending Chairman Eddie and Sears much financial love these days.

In a recent 'Behind the Tape' article ("Lampert Skeptics Could Get Seared" May 16, 2012), the WSJ brazenly lays out the undervalued case for Sears that even a Motley Fool subscriber could read and understand.

Calling Chairman Lampert "a master of financial engineering" our WSJ reporter applies some quick-and-dirty advanced math and accounting skills he picked up somewhere to arrive at a $8 billion value for Sears. Undervalued and under-appreciated. Bank it.

Again, our brazen WSJ reporter: the "good news at Sears can be particularly potent. Look out above."

It is just The Wall Street Journal doing a public service to short-sellers of SHLD recommending they immediately close out positions.

Eddie Lampert of Sears is forced into his own share buy back program

Hey, stock investors! what happens to one of your positions when you fully realize that you are "long and wrong?" Well, there are multiple strategies, of course. Sell, admit a mistake, and exit your position. Hold and hope for price recovery. Enter into some sophisticated options positions.

Eddie Lampert, formerly known as The Next Warren Buffett, has experienced the "long and wrong" feeling with his beloved basket-case of a retail turnaround project better known as Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD). Currently selling for a cool $34 a share (52 week lo/hi 28.89 - 94.79) this dog of a stock has most certainly seen better days. Plus, from an operational standpoint, the news gets worse and worse month after month.

What is happening now to Eddie is that he is not just "long and wrong" with his personal holdings in Sears, but with his managed hedge fund as well. To placate his restless hedge fund investors, he has personally bought more Sears stock directly from the hedge fund to emphasize that he is "long and wrong" with conviction! Go, Eddie,go Eddie!

File this move under averaging down, doubling down or forced to eat his own shares under duress.

NY TIMES: Sears article


Eddie is receiving alot of quality strategic advice these days on this investment matter. Such as: dump Kmart, stop watching the movie Groundhog Day and take a part-time job at Walmart to learning retailing from the ground up. The Sears turnaround attempt will make for a great movie some day and/or a compelling Harvard Business School case study.

But, best of all, most think Eddie is still a high quality investor and that Sears is one of his few serious mistakes along the way.

So, we at Think Billions, wish Eddie Lampert well and hopes he enjoys a profitable 2012.

Eddie Lampert is bullish on Gap - takes a 5.8% stake

The hedge fund of billionaire investor Eddie Lampert has taken a 5.8% stake in Gap (GPS) - it has been announced this week - which operates the Old Navy and Banana Republic retail chains and websites, as well as the Gap.

Citigroup Global Markets upgraded shares of Gap to Hold from Sell today and raised its price target to $25.

Edward Lampert is the chairman of Sears Holding Corp.

Fast Eddie Lampert bets on a housing rebound

Edward S. Lampert, last mentioned here at Think Billion$ during the Sears meltdown, has been profiled today by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ, June 12, 2008, p. C4) for his new bets on the housing sector.

Eddie has recently added the following stocks to his ESL Investments, Inc. portfolio; which owns half of Sears and 40% of AutoNation. As a public service to our readers, here's what Eddie likes:

CIT Group
Centex
Home Depot
KB Home
PHH

And remember, buy low and sell high (except when shorting). Good luck and happy investing!


update -

I just noticed this YouTube video posted on Dealbreaker. Can you spot Eddie???

It is a Red Light earnings special for Sears and Eddie Lampert

We like Eddie Lampert, we really do. He is a self-made billionaire who did it the hard way, not the easy way.

But, let's face it, he is an investor, not a CEO type.

Yesterday, we opened to the second section of the Financial Times and saw the headline: Sears suffers dismal quarter of poor sales. It was more of the same for Eddie.

What is more of the same, you ask? More poor branding strategy, more management defections, more financial problems, more of everything going wrong.

Sears announced a further share repurchase program. However, Think Billion$ has a better idea: Take the damn company PRIVATE! This is the only sensible thing to do from a financial re-engineering standpoint. Let us break it down for one and all -

Step 1: more share repurchases for the rest of 2008. Step 2: take Sears private next year. Step 3: re-engineer the damn thing. Step 4: years later, take it public to an unsuspecting public and to Wall Street accolades.

Come on Eddie, you know what to do.


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