Deja Vu In Sears After REIT Transaction Announcement

shares were trading higher by $2.26 (5 percent) at $43.64 in Wednesday's session. The catalyst for the rally is the announcement of a joint agreement with

. It is a 50/50 joint venture that involves the sale leaseback involving 12 Sears Holding properties at General Growth Properties malls. This is not the first time the issue has spiked off similar news. On November 7, 2014, it spiked to $48.25 when the company announced it was actively exploring REIT transactions involving 200-300 of its properties. However, the euphoria from that announcement quickly faded as the issue declined all the way to $31.00 level by mid-December. Since that time, it has mounted a slow and steady rally that had taken the issue to the lower $40 handle. Wednesday's news is replicating the events from November. Shortly after the open, the issue spiked to $46.23, but then sharply reversed course. So far, it has declined to $43.28 and is trading just off its lows for session. It should be noted that the issue was unable to reach $48.25, which represents the high from the day the REIT conversion strategy was announced.