Sears Holdings earns $26 million in first quarter

Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. says it reversed a year-ago loss and posted a profit of $26 million in the first quarter.

The earnings announced Thursday amounted to 21 cents per share. That was markedly better than the previous year, when the suburban Chicago-based retailer lost $56 million, or 43 cents per share.

Excluding one-time items the company earned $47 million, or 38 cents per share.

Still, sales fell more than 9 percent to $10.06 billion for the three months that ended May 3.

Sears Holdings, run by financier Edward Lampert, operates 3,900 Sears and Kmart stores in the U.S. and Canada.