Staples Q2 Profit Meets Views

Staples, Inc. SPLS reported in-line earnings for the second quarter on Wednesday. The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company reported quarterly net income of $36 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to $82 million, or $0.13 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company's non-GAAP net income came in at $0.12 per share, versus $0.12 per share, in the year-ago period. Its sales for the second quarter slipped 5.4 percent year-over-year to $4.94 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.12 per share on revenue of $4.96 billion. The average estimate among 9 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.12 per share and revenue of $4.95 billion. North American Commercial sales rose 3 percent to $2.0 billion in the quarter, while North American Stores and Online sales fell 8 percent to $2.1 billion. International Operations sales dipped 17 percent in U.S. dollars to $780 million. Non-GAAP operating income rate expanded 26 basis points to 2.56 percent from 2.30 percent. Staples ended the quarter with $1.7 billion in liquidity. "Our second quarter results were in-line with our expectations and reflect steady progress on our strategic reinvention," said Ron Sargent, Staples' chairman and chief executive officer. "We continued to drive growth in our delivery businesses and in categories beyond office supplies, and we grew operating income during the second quarter. We remain on track with the acquisition of Office Depot, which we expect to close by the end of 2015." For the third quarter, Staples projects adjusted earnings of $0.33 to $0.36 per share and expects sales to drop from the third quarter of 2014. Staples shares fell 1.55 percent to $13.93 in pre-market trading.