Orchard Supply shares tumble on share sale

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. fell for a second-straight day its largest shareholder reported that he sold off his stake.

THE SPARK: As of March 31, Bruce Berkowitz and his investment firm Fairholme Capital owned 604,143 shares of the company's stock for an about 12.5 percent stake. That has dropped to zero, Berkowitz and Fairholme reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday,

THE BIG PICTURE: The San Jose, Calif., hardware store company was spun off from Sears Holdings Corp. in January 2012.

News of the sale also came a day after the company said it was notified by the Nasdaq stock exchange that it was out of compliance with its requirements for continued listing, because the majority of its board was not made up of independent directors.

Earlier this month, William Crowley, Orchard's chairman, resigned from the board. David Bogage, the company's senior vice president for human resources, was subsequently elected to the board.

THE SHARES: Down 18 cents, or 7.8 percent, to $2.12 in afternoon trading, after falling as low as $2.02 earlier in the session. Over the past two days, the shares have lost about a third of their value.