Sears Ups Stake in Canada

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

--

Sears

(ZLC)

said on Friday that it expects first-quarter earnings will fall in-line with Wall Street's estimates.

The department store expects earnings in the range of break-even to 31 cents a share, while analysts are calling for a profit of 4 cents.

Same-store sales for the quarter-to-date are up 1.7%, increasing 3.2% at Kmart and rising 0.7% at Sears.

Separately, Sears also announced that it is upping its stake in Sears Canada. It signed a deal to buy about 18.7 million shares, or 17% of outstanding stock, from William Ackman's

Pershing Square

for $30 Canadian dollars a share.

This will give Sears a total of 97.3 million shares, or 90.4% of Sears Canada.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.

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