Office Depot Hit with Weak Sales, Restructuring Charges

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) said this morning that it swung to a third-quarter loss of $69.6 million, or $0.25 per share, due in part to declining same-store sales in North America on dwindling sales of computers and related products.

Excluding restructuring and impairment charges, the Boca Raton-based specialty retailer posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.06 on revenues of $2.69 billion for the quarter. In the same period a year ago, the company reported $0.00 per share on revenues of $2.84 billion. The quarter’s results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $0.1 and $2.73 million in revenues.

The company also said its total gross profit margin increased about 90 basis points in the third quarter of 2012, compared to the prior year period. And Office Depot ended the quarter with free cash flow of $190 million, up significantly from $139 million reported in the year-ago period.

The report did not offer guidance, but the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates call for EPS to tick up to $0.04 on sales of $2.85 billion. For the full year, analysts are looking for a net loss of $0.03 per share and $10.98 billion in revenues.

Office Depot shares are inactive in premarket trading but closed yesterday at $2.51. The 52-week range is $1.51 to $3.81.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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