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News > Companies
Staples 2Q in line
August 21, 2001: 7:01 a.m. ET

No. 2 office supply chain's sales flat; comfortable with full-year outlook
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Staples Inc. posted lower fiscal second-quarter results Tuesday that matched Wall Street expectations as the nation's No. 2 office supply retailer's sales remained flat amid a slowing economy.

For the quarter ended Aug. 4, Framingham, Mass.-based Staples (SPLS: down $0.65 to $15.57, Research, Estimates)  reported net income of $40.35 million, or 9 cents a share, down from $42.56 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average anticipated a profit of 9 cents a share, according to earnings tracker First Call.

Sales were essentially flat at $2.3 billion.

Staples shares fell 62 cents to $15.60 in midday trading Tuesday.

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The company also said it remains comfortable with Wall Street's estimates for full-year earnings of 65 cents to 70 cents a share. The average analyst forecast is for 67 cents a share, according to First Call.

Retail sales at stores open at least a year -- a key retailing gauge known as same-store sales -- slipped 3 percent in the quarter.

"In the face of a difficult economic environment, Staples aggressively contained expenses and increased productivity during the quarter without sacrificing marketing or customer service levels," CEO Thomas Stemberg said.

The company said Staples.com, its e-commerce arm, became profitable for the first time in the second quarter, 18 months ahead of management's projections, with net income of $5 million.

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That news comes about four months after Staples angered some investors when it canceled plans for a tracking stock of Staples.com and  folded the Web site back into the parent, yielding Stemberg and several other top managers large personal profits.

However, the company quelled criticism by telling investors that its board of directors would not reap a windfall profit from the move. graphic

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.