Sears' shares surge more than 25% in premarket after third quarter loss narrows

Sears Holdings Corp’s (NASDAQ:SHLD) shares surged in premarket trade after its third quarter results which saw a narrower loss, pleased the market.

The department store chain which has been facing troubling times, said in the quarter, its net loss came in at US$558mln or US$5.19 a share, compared with a wider loss of US$748mln or US$6.99 a share, a year ago.

READ: Sears sells further 140 stores to fund pension plan as it reports third quarter loss

During the same period, revenue however fell to US$3.66bn from $5.03bn, with store closures blamed for over half of the decline.

Cuts in pharmacies at Kmart stores and the reduction of consumer electronics assortments in both Kmart and Sears stores also hit sales.

In the third quarter, same-store sales fell 15.3%. Kmart stores saw a 13.0% drop while Sears stores saw a dip of 17.0%.

As of October 28, there were a total of 510 Kmart stores and 594 Sears stores, compared with 801 Kmart stores and 702 Sears stores, a year ago.

READ: Sears to axe 400 full-time jobs in effort to cut costs as part of restructuring

In a statement, the department store said it would continue to look to diversify revenue streams through third-party partnerships, and build on momentum around appliances and mattresses.

In premarket, its shares rallied 28.27% at US%5.40.

Story by ProactiveInvestors