Finance

Sears stock price has been bear for years now and it seems to be over, they have not turned a profit in eight years and hundreds of their stores are closing. As the company shrinks, so does the price of its stock. 

With a 12 cent all time low and a market cap of under $40 million as of December 11th, 2018 while also being billions of dollars in debt, the financial strength of Sears is extremely weak. 

For the retail industry, there are many difficulties to come by. Competition with online retail such as Amazon has left many stores empty. Overall the sector continues to struggle as consumers are drawn to the convenience of online retail. 

The retail company has filed bankruptcy carrying over 10 billion dollars in debt and 1 billion in assets. The debt to asset ratio of the Sears Company shows the incredible weakness within the company. 

Rob Riecker is the Chief Financial Officer of Sears who continues to find a way to keep the company afloat financially. Currently, majority of Sears assets are being liquidated with 505 stores closing. Sears main assets are Realestate due to the lack of revenue created by the Sears stores. Looking at the financial health of Sears, it makes more financial sense to liquidate the company than keep it afloat. 

"From creditors' perspective, a liquidation would also remove substantial gift card and loyalty program liabilities -- and possibly protection agreement expenses as well, depending on the fate of Sears Home Services. Thus, they would get a larger proportion of the sale proceeds than they would under ESL's proposal"

The question that seems to be in the air now isn't "will Sears survive" but now it seems to be "how much longer will it last". 

“Sears, Once an Icon of American Retail, Has Finally Filed for Bankruptcy.” Fortune, Fortune, fortune.com/2018/10/15/sears-bankruptcy-filing-debt/.

Levine-Weinberg, Adam. “Sears Is Worth More Dead Than Alive.” The Motley Fool, The 

Motley Fool, 11 Dec. 2018, www.fool.com/investing/2018/12/11/sears-is-worth-more-dead-than-alive.aspx.