Sears beats expectations amid collapsing sales

Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, posted a better-than-expected loss of $558 million in the third quarter. Investors initially cheered the news, sending the company's stock soaring as much as 30% higher in pre-market trading, though those gains were wiped out by early Thursday afternoon.

Why it matters: Even as it lost less money than analysts expected, Sears financial situation is dire. "Whichever way you cut them, the fundamental economics of the business do not add up," GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders tells CNBC. "Nothing in this latest set of results changes our view."