NEW YORK - Sears Holdings Corp. said Thursday it expects fourth-quarter profit to beat analysts’ estimates and that it will end the fiscal year with some cash on hand and less inventory.

The news helped lift the retailer’s stock $9.43, or 23.3 percent, to close at $49.98. The stock is down 56 percent from its 52-week high of $114.

Aside from the upbeat forecast, Sears reported lower same-store sales for December as consumers curbed holiday spending amid the recession.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company, whose proprietary brands include Kenmore and Craftsman, anticipates quarterly earnings between $300 million and $380 million, or $2.44 to $3.09 per share. It reported net income of $426 million, or $3.17 per share, in the prior-year period.

Sears’ forecast excludes the possible impact of store closings, goodwill and other charges as well as items such as severance, mark-to-market gains and losses on hedge transactions by Sears Canada.

Analysts predict fourth-quarter profit of $1.90 per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

Analysts estimates’ typically exclude one-time items.

Sears, which is in the midst of a restructuring to help prop up flagging sales, said it expects to finish the fiscal year with about $1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Of that amount, $600 million will be domestic and $740 million will come from Sears Canada. The balance does not account for any buybacks after Jan. 7.

The company also anticipates paring down its domestic inventory level to about $8.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year, a 7 percent decrease from $9.1 billion a year ago.

Neil Simon a senior partner at Chicago-based McMillan Doolittle said Sears is starting to shift its approach, placing less emphasis on revenue and more on profit margins.

“Controlling expenses and operations is what people are going to start to look for,” Simon said in an interview.

While the company must look to break its cycle of declining revenue long term, Simon said Sears is handling itself fairly well given current circumstances.

“In this environment the way they are managing the company is probably a pretty good model for now,” he said.

Last month Sears posted its biggest quarterly loss since financier Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart into one retail company, due mainly to hefty charges related to store closures and disappointing U.S. sales. Sears Holdings was formed after Lampert acquired Kmart in 2003 and Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005.

The company predicts full-year earnings for the period ended Jan. 31 of $163 million to $243 million, or $1.27 to $1.90 per share.

Analysts anticipate net income of 62 cents per share.

Sears also said December same-store sales slid 7.3 percent, with Kmart off 1.1 percent and Sears’ U.S. locations down 12.8 percent. The company credited the smaller Kmart decline to more sales made through its layaway program. Layaway programs enable customers to make small payments toward the purchase over a set period of time.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Sears’ weak same-store sales results are no different than many in the retail sector, which has come under increasing pressure as consumers slow spending due to economic and job worries.

Sears had more than $50 billion in annual revenue and runs about 3,900 full-line and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada.

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