SHLD Days Inventory Outstanding data by YCharts Caveat: Sears and Gap are both retailers, but beyond that they're pretty different. Fashion retailers are more sensitive to trends than department stores that include refrigerators and lawn mowers on their shelves. Gap benefited by being well prepared, either through luck or fashion savvy, for a surge in the popularity of colored jeans. Home appliances, historically Sears' largest category in terms of sales, haven't seen a similar trend that the retailer could exploit. Another big difference is that Eddie Lampert controls Sears, but he's only a minority shareholder in Gap. Based on the results so far of his efforts to give Sears a makeover, that may be a good thing. Mark Henricks is a contributing editor at YCharts, which includes the just-released YCharts Pro Platinum for professional investors.