Professor Elam

Tuesday January 8 2012

Howard Davidowitz is a retail specialist, with a definite flair for the dramatic. He was negative on Ron Johnson coming from Apple to JCP a year ago, and has been proved right. Accounting helps us understand the numerous terms used in analysis like this. 

Another analyst predicts  Eddie lampert, now installed as the Sears CEO, will eventually sell all the Sears brands. Other than Craftsman I doubt that brands like Kenmore really would command much of a price. But what do I know? Lampert was given a lot of credit for shrewd when he bought K Mart in bankrutptcy for the real estate alone. Then he bought Sears, the two have proved that synergy does not always happen. Have you been in a Sears store lately?

I suspect both JCP and Sears are toast in less than five years. Davidowitz believes we still have twice as much brick and mortar retail space as needed in America. Lopping off Sears and JCP will take a chunk of that.