Sears Soaring on Speculation Lampert Could Take Company Private

Shares of Sears Holdings SHLD are soaring again on Friday as speculation mounts that majority shareholder Eddie Lampert could lead a group to take the retailer private. The stock has surged 13.73% to $49.29 on very heavy volume. More than 4.6 million SHLD shares have already traded hands on the day compared to a 3-month daily average of 1.5 million. Sears has been extremely active all week and has jumped nearly 45% in just the last 5 trading sessions. Sears Holdings Corporation (Holdings) is the parent company of Kmart Holding Corporation (Kmart) and Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears). Holdings is broadline retailer with 2,201 full-line and 1,354 specialty retail stores in the United States operating through Kmart and Sears and 483 full-line and specialty retail stores in Canada operating through Sears Canada Inc. (Sears Canada), a 92%-owned subsidiary.