Roebuck And Co Sears

Sears, Roebuck & Co. said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings rose 26%, thanks to lower costs and robust sales in both its Sears department stores and its furniture, hardware and other specialty stores. The nation's second-largest retailer had net income of $274 million, or 67 cents a share, beating analysts' 64-cent average estimate. In the year-earlier quarter, profit from continuing operations was $218 million, or 54 cents a share.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. faces a new class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest department store company of using illegal tactics to collect debts from more than 1.5 million bankrupt customers since 1987. U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore granted class-action status to a 1997 suit filed by a Texas couple claiming that Sears bullied consumers into agreeing to repay debts wiped out in personal bankruptcies, and harassed them with lawsuits if they didn't.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. faces a new class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest department store company of using illegal tactics to collect debts from more than 1.5 million bankrupt customers since 1987. U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore granted class-action status to a 1997 suit filed by a Texas couple claiming that Sears bullied consumers into agreeing to repay debts wiped out in personal bankruptcies, and harassed them with lawsuits if they didn't.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings rose 26%, thanks to lower costs and robust sales in both its Sears department stores and its furniture, hardware and other specialty stores. The nation's second-largest retailer had net income of $274 million, or 67 cents a share, beating analysts' 64-cent average estimate. In the year-earlier quarter, profit from continuing operations was $218 million, or 54 cents a share.

An employee of a Sears store in Burbank has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling $17,000 by using a cash register to pay off his credit-card debts over the past two years, police said Wednesday. Police believe Afshin (Jeff) Masjedi, 28, of Pasadena credited his Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Discover accounts while he worked in the store's hardware and appliance departments and no one was looking.

The nation's biggest retailers today issued mixed sales reports for August, with department and apparel stores benefiting from back-to-school business but mass merchandisers suffering through another month of lackluster results. Industry analysts said consumers continued to spend carefully. "These are not boom times, and we see a cautious consumer," said Walter Loeb, an analyst with Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. "I believe we are heading for a slow-growth period."

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An employee of a Sears store in Burbank has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling $17,000 by using a cash register to pay off his credit-card debts over the past two years, police said Wednesday. Police believe Afshin (Jeff) Masjedi, 28, of Pasadena credited his Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Discover accounts while he worked in the store's hardware and appliance departments and no one was looking.