(By Mayur Pahilajani - iStockAnalyst Writer)Framingham, Mass. - Shares of Staples Inc. (SPLS) gained after the firm announced today its quarterly report for the three months ending Aug. 2.
The firm said its net income for the quarter dropped by 16 percent and maintained its weak growth forecast for the rest of 2008.
The world's largest office-supplies retailer said second-quarter profit dropped to $150.2 million (or 21 cents a share), compared to profit of $178.8 million (or 25 cents per share) reported a year earlier.
But the Framingham, Massachusetts-based company's sales jumped 18 percent to $5.07 billion, compared to the sales $4.29 billion a year earlier, benefiting from the July acquisition of Corporate Express NV.
Sales of the office-products giant, excluding Corporate Express data, increased by 3 percent to $4.4 billion.
According to the company, North American retail sales declined by 1 percent in the second-quarter, blaming it on reduced customer traffic and average order size.
Additional reasons include weak sales in furniture, desktop computers, printers and digital cameras, offsetting the higher sales in laptops, ink and technology services.
In July, with the help of Corporate Express' sales, North American delivery grew sales by 25 percent to $2.0 billion. Excluding Corporate Express, sales moved up by 2 percent to $1.6 billion.Revenue dropped by 1 percent in North American region, with same-store sales moving down by 7 percent, according to the company.
At Staples' international segments, revenue including Corporate Express climbed by 69 percent, while same-store sales in European segments dropped by 7 percent.
The firm has 1,802 stores in the U.S. and Canada, 337 stores in European markets and 31 in China.
Share of Staples Inc. at 10:08AM EST moved up by 1.7 percent or 41 cents to $25.18 in the New York composite trading on Wednesday.
Staples is currently rated as avoid by computerized scan.
Staples Earnings Performance
EPS Growth in Last Quarter: -36.17 %
EPS Growth in Last Year: 3.45 %
Sales Growth in Last Quarter: -8.26 %
Sales Growth in Last Year: 6.43 %
