Maven: AMD Press Does Not Compute

At Sears stores, things were worse, with sales down 5.6%.

But the company also raised guidance for 2007.

How did this play out in the media? Well, in the first wave of headlines on Wednesday, you wouldn't have known that anything was said about anything but same-store sales. "Sears Holding same-store sales decline," said MarketWatch. "Sears holiday sales slip," said Reuters' first take. And so on.

Later in the day, writing about Sears grew more positive; witness the improved stories from Reuters ("Sears sees higher 4th-qtr earnings; shares rise") and AP ("Sears Expects Higher 4Q Profit"). And, look, this is obviously a company with issues, a term The Business Press Maven's psychopharmacologist is always throwing at him. But that just underscores the need for complete coverage, especially if the company lays out the contradictory results right there in the press release. That should be the story, or my name is not Rufus T. Firefly.

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