Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) is having a sale today. On its stock. Question is, do you think it's cheap enough to be a value?

I have reservations about buying the current dip. At the time of this writing, shares of the retailer were off by 5.8% to $82.19. Active volume backed the move. Granted, it's not like the stock is at the 52-week low of $59.21. Things aren't that dire. But the company isn't close to the 52-week high of of $125.42, either. And as for the one-year chart, well, I'm not sure the image is one to praise.

Tuesday morning, Sears Holding (SHLD) released a bit of good and a bit of bad news. Let's start with the bad news.

The retailer announced that its same-store sales dropped 1.7% during December. The company's eponymous Sears stores saw December same-store sales fall 6%, more than offsetting Kmart's 2% growth. The firm blamed the sales drop at Sears on a major decline in sales of consumer electronics, along with appliances and tools.

It's been a strange marriage right from the start. Kmart, the discounter, joined with Sears, the department store retailer in 2005.
Both lines are in stiff competition with other brands, the USA Today reports. Kmart's competing with Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), while Sears's competitors include Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW).

The Kmart-Sears combo has been lagging in the retail sector. On Thursday, Sears Holdings (SHLD) posted a loss of $218 million or $1.98 per share, compared with a loss of $127 million or $1.09 per share in the period last year. Revenue fell 5% to $9.68 billion. Analysts had expected $9.89 billion.

Retailer Sears Holding (SHLD) announced this morning that its first-quarter profit dropped 38%. The company blamed the drop on increased discounts that it used to promote, appliances along with dropping demand for its tools and home electronics.

During the first quarter, Sears earned 14 cents per share, which is down from 21 cents per share last year. Adjusted earnings checked in at 16 cents per share, which topped the consensus estimate of 12 cents per share. Quarterly revenue fell to $10.05 billion, which is short of the consensus estimate of $10.22 billion.

The good news is, an Internet coupon offering went viral for Kmart. The bad news is that it wasn't supposed to.

Cue the face-palms as executives for Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD), parent of Kmart, decide the best method for damage control after at least one Kmart store manager allegedly accused a customer of fraud when attempting to use what appeared to be, or should have been, a legitimate store coupon.

Sears Holdings Coproation (SHLD) is a fascinating stock. It's done very well over the last year. Yet, who out there can claim that they'd be willing to buy the story without any trepidation whatsoever? Well, there are obviously many who would make such a claim, I suppose. I know I'm not one of them.

Our summary of retail quarterly reports tells us that Sears Holdings, which competes with Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), Target Corporation (TGT), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), delivered an earnings-beating performance. Adjusted profit of $3.69 per share in Q4 represented a solid increase over the $2.94 per share booked in the comparable period.

Watch for some action out of mega-retailer Sears Holdings (SHLD), as the company placed its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimate "well above" expectations. Sears believes earnings for the current quarter will come in between $3.36 and $4.06 per share, far better than the Street's expected $2.65 per share.

The reason for the forecasting bravado is the fact that the company saw same-store sales growth during the past month thanks to strong performance from Kmart. As a matter of fact, Kmart outperformed Sears' stores in the past quarter, which it continued in the past month. Same-store sales at Kmart saw a 5.3% increase in December while Sears saw same-store sales drop 4.3%.

Back in June, there was a report on WalletPop that Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) and Kmart spied on customers who participated in an online marketing study. The company paid participants in the study $10 if they would download and retain software for "My SHC Community."

The participants were told that the software would help them "participate in exciting, engaging, and on-going interactions" on their own terms. Sears noted that the software would only monitor the participants' online browsing. Not so, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which reported that the software captured secured sessions from participants -- including online banking. The FTC and Sears came to a settlement and the company was less than apologetic for its maneuver.

Not long ago, I found myself in Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) buying a video game. While at the point of sale -- which was a nightmare, not because of anything related to the checkout process, but because a jerk cut in front of me and, after the completion of his transaction, proceeded to deluge the poor associate at the register with a bunch of random, techno nerd-talk that said associate clearly couldn't care any less about (but I digress) -- I noticed something pertaining to a Christmas Club card. Sounded interesting, but I didn't pay much attention to the selling material.

Well, last night I was checking out some articles at Brandweek.com, and lo and behold, I came across this one discussing the holiday card. You know how Christmas Clubs work at banks, correct? Same principle applies here. In a simple nutshell, you get the plastic, you store funds on it, and then you can access those funds later on in the season to acquire presents. It's basically like a gift card that you use for budgeting purposes. Not only is Sears involved in this, but so is Kmart. And there's a promotion going on that's mentioned in the article where you can earn a nominal amount of bonus money on it. I don't know the details; I would suggest checking with Sears/Kmart for further information.

Slumping sales did in Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) in the second quarter, as the company posted a surprise loss of 17 cents per share (excluding items). The Street expected the company to report earnings of 38 cents per share. Why the staggering disparity?

One reason is that comparable-store sales dropped 8.6% (12.5% at Sears stores and 3.9% at Kmart). Another reason is what the company called "significant items," which include costs associated with store closings and severance (32 cents per share), domestic pension plan expenses (22 cents per share), mark-to-market losses on Sears Canada hedge transactions (8 cents per share), and a positive impact of a reversal of a $62-million reserve (29 cents per share). The store closings include charges that related to the decision to close 28 underperforming stores.

Last week we looked at expectations for some retail earnings. More shopping mall favorites are reporting second-quarter results this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for significant earnings growth from some of them.

Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO), the teen-focused retailer spun off from Macy's (NYSE: M) in 1998, is expected to post a second-quarter profit that is 44.6% higher than a year ago, or $0.56 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 19.7% higher, or $451.3 million. For the full year, the forecast so far is for $2.98 per share (+25.8%) on $2.2 billion (+14.6%). Earnings of the New York-based company have matched estimates in recent quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 13.9%, which is better than the retail industry average and rival Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF). Aeropostale's earnings multiple is 12x, and this debt-free company's cash flow from operations swung into positive territory in the first quarter. The First Call consensus recommendation is to buy ARO; The Motley Fool identified it as a Wall Street favorite. Shares are down a couple of bucks from the 52-week high of $38.74 back in July, but are still 123.0% higher year to date.

I guess Kmart -- part of Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) -- has exhausted every other marketing idea it had for luring us back to the shopping aisles. How else to account for launching what must the earliest Christmas shopping campaign in history? The website for the chain now features a snowy village decked out in holiday cheer.

The banner reads "Take A Stroll Down Christmas Lane," and suggests that you can 'beat the Christmas rush" (ha!) by buying your stocking stuffers, gifts, and decorations now. Personally, I can't even predict who I'll still like well enough to give a gift to in six months. Stuff happens.

Voting continues in our Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature, and it looks like early favorites include falling gasoline prices, Wal-Mart, Joe the Plumber, and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Did they get your vote?

Close races include the Breakout Person of the Year, in which vice presidential contender Sarah Palin and Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps duke it out for first place, while poor Neel Kashkari, who is in charge of the U.S. Treasury's financial relief funds, is in last place with only about 6% of the vote.

The Most Disturbing Consumer Trend is another close race, with plunging retirement accounts and falling home values virtually a tie. It's also a very close race between Wall Street and Kmart for Most in Need of a Makeover. Not much interest in making over Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), however, as it has only about 4% of the vote in that category.

Lower fuel prices are clearly the most popular Silver Lining to the Recession with about 62% of the vote so far. Joe the Plumber, with 57% of the vote, has a clear lead over distant second place Rev. Jeremiah Wright as the Most Notable 15 Minutes of Fame. And disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer leads the Biggest Fall from Grace category with about 56% of the vote.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

As we undertake a hasty exit from the tumult of 2008 and plunge headlong into the mysteries of 2009, we might find it interesting to consider some business entities that could benefit from a little "freshening up." Four familiar names; Kmart, Playboy, Starbucks, and Wall Street, are each in need of a timely makeover, to varying degrees. But if you could chose just one of these big name operations to fix up for 2009, which one would it be, and how would you fix it?

First let's consider Kmart, the adopted son of Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD). What are the changes that Kmart might need to remain competitive going into 2009? Should the company try playing the boutique angle, which failed to work for Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT)? Should the company tighten up and consolidate, while pursuing a deeper product value play, or should it attempt to spread out its market coverage and work over its wholesale vendors, while engaging Wal-Mart in a game of cut-throat retail price points? If you were CEO of Kmart, what would you change?

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

There have been big hopes for all the nominees in this category at one time or another, but they've also suffered from questionable management moves of various sorts. So what's to root for in any of these companies?

Circuit City was founded in 1949; back then it was known as Wards Company. The big-box format and Circuit City name came as the result of a series of retail experiments, and became official in 1984. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the same year. In 1991, the company established a bank to operate its private-label credit card, and later offered a co-branded Visa. Big-box used car retailer CarMax (NYSE: KMX) was also owned by Circuit City at one point. In 2005, the company's board rejected a buyout offer; the company was worth a reported $1 billion then. The next year, Philip J. Schoonover became chairman, and ... well, the rest is history. Circuit City is now in Chapter 11.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) was formed in 1998 from one of the largest mergers in history: banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate Travelers Group. The company holds over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, and includes the investment services brands Smith Barney and Primerica. The company owns prominent, renowned buildings in Manhattan and Chicago, and also won naming rights to the new ball park of the New York Mets. But it was the subprime mortgage crisis that was Citigroup's undoing, resulting in the need for the recent federal bailout.