Sears Holdings Corp.

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) posted a 55% drop in quarterly profit, hurt by goodwill impairment and restructuring charges in the worst retail environment in at least a decade. However, shares of the largest U.S. department-store chain jumped about 8% on Thursday as the owner of Kmart still beat market expectations by cutting costs and closing underperforming units.

In the latest fourth quarter, Sears earned $190 million, or $1.55 per share. However, excluding the after-tax charge of $187 million related to its Orchard Supply Hardware subsidiary and other items, earnings were $2.94 a share. Analysts on average were looking for $2.68 per share. 

The retailer said it had closed 28 units in 2008 and plans to shut 24 additional Kmart and Sears stores by the end of May to generate cash and boost earnings. It also cut inventory levels by 12% to $8.8 billion as of Jan. 31.

Chairman Edward Lampert said, "I believe that we are well positioned now at Sears Holdings to operate through a difficult economy, and we are preparing to rebound strongly when the economy stabilizes and turns back up."

Shares of the company were up 3% to $36.89 at noon on the NASDAQ. Earlier in the session, they had touched an intra-day high of $39.50.

Read the full analyst report on SHLD