Sears Holdings Fourth-Quarter Earnings Leap as Kmart Improves

Sears Holdings (SHLD) beat analysts expectations for its fourth-quarter earnings in 2009, despite continuing weak sales at Sears stores.

The parent of Sears and Kmart stores posted net income of $430 million for the quarter, or $3.74 per share, up 83% from the same period a year ago. That was its first profitable quarters after two losing periods, and easily beat analysts' expectations of $3.54 per share, according to Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate. The company posted earnings of $235 million for the year, or $1.99 per share, up 343.4% from the $53 million, or 42 cents per share, it posted in 2008.