Office Depot beats profit and sales expectations

Office Depot Inc. reported Wednesday fourth-quarter earnings that rose to $80 million, or 15 cents a share, from $15 million, or 3 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 11 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 11 cents. Revenue slipped to $2.73 billion from $2.77 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $2.70 billion. North American retail sales fell to $1.37 billion from $1.41 billion, but beat expectations of $1.33 billion. North American retail same-store sales fell 4%, due primarily to lower store traffic. Looking ahead, the office supplies retailer expects 2017 sales to be lower than 2016. The FactSet consensus of $10.40 billion implies a 5.6% decline from 2016 sales of $11.02 billion. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 15% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 7.9%.

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