FRESHLY SQUEEZED $SHLD SHORTS THIS MORNING

I misplaced my February seasonal data on Sears, but its compelling with a 10 year track record.

*Nevermind, found it: ($SHLD seasonality…last 13 years. March is best (+10.66%), February is 2nd (+8.35%). Both months were up 9 of 13 years.)

Some of the most memorable short squeezes I’ve ever seen were in this stock. As I mentioned in the last couple weeks, I built a position in this stock for the retail exposure…but also for the squeeze potential.

Long a sum of shares that has been keeping me up at night. Now I can get some fucking sleep.

Struggling retailer Sears Holdings Corp. laid out a plan to turn its business around by sharply cutting costs and said it had amended its credit facility to add borrowing power.

Shares of the company shot up 40% in premarket trading, which would push the company’s market value to about $840 million; the stock had dropped 55% over the past three months through Thursday’s close.

Under the restructuring plan announced Friday, the big-box retailer said it hopes to reach at least $1 billion in annualized cost savings and reduce its debt and pension obligations by $1.5 billion.

“To capture these savings, we plan to reduce our corporate overhead, more closely integrate our Sears and Kmart operations and improve our merchandising, supply chain and inventory management,” Chief Executive Edward Lampert said in a statement.

Sears also noted it had “right-sized” its asset-based credit facility, adding $140 million to its available borrowing capacity.

Sears, poised to report its seventh consecutive annual loss, has been stumbling through efforts to return to profitability as customers have continued to shift spending online and away from brick-and-mortar stores. It has focused on assortment, sourcing, pricing and inventory-management practices — sometimes at the expense of sales.

So far this year, Sears has sold its Craftsman brand and a number of real estate properties to generate extra cash. The company is continuing to explore options for its Kenmore, DieHard and Auto Centers business.

Sears also reported preliminary results for the fourth quarter, saying it expects a loss of $535 million to $635 million. It also forecast revenue of $6.1 billion, above the $5.69 billion consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.