Sears Names CEO, Profit Tops Estimates

Updated from 4:30 a.m. EST

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (TheStreet) -- Sears Holdings (SHLD), the U.S. retailer, named Lou D'Ambrosio as CEO and president, and said profit in the fourth quarter topped analysts' estimates despite a drop in domestic same-store sales.

Sears said fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were $3.67 a share vs. year-earlier adjusted earnings of $3.69 a share. Analysts were expecting earnings of $3.57 a share.

Revenue in the quarter fell to $13.14 billion from $13.25 billion. Domestic same-store sales fell 1.2%.

D'Ambrosio served as CEO of software company Avaya from 2006 to 2008; he stepped down from the CEO post in 2008 for medical reasons. Prior to joining Avaya in 2002, he spent 16 years at IBM.

He has spent the last six months as a consultant to Sears, the biggest department store chain in the U.S. that operates Sears and Kmart stores.

"From the beginning of our CEO search, we were determined to find a leader with information and technology experience who could catalyze the transformation of our portfolio of businesses in the context of the evolution of the retail industry that is occurring more broadly," said Chairman Edward Lampert in a press statement.

Sears has been without a permanent CEO for three years after Aylwin Lewis stepped down in February 2008. W. Bruce Johnson was serving as interim CEO.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

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