SPLS announced Q3 profit that beat Wall Street's projections.
The day after I should have sold everything!
On June 11 Corporate Express NV virtually sold itself to Staples by publicly supporting the tender offer Staples launched to acquire CXP in May 2008. The acquisition will be finalized at the end of June, assuming the necessary number of shares are sold to Staples by current Corporate Express NV shareholders.
Staples announced that it was increasing its tender offer for Corporate Express NV (CXP) to 9.15 euros per share from 8 euros per share (from 1.7 billion euros to approximately $2.7 billion). The company announced that about 23% of shareholders had pledged to accept the tender offer, Staples needs 51% of the shares in order for the acquisition to be completed.
A few days after Staples announced that it was making a tender offer to purchase all and any ordinary shares of Corporate Express NV, the European office supplier announced it was acquiring Lyreco, another European office supplier based in France. The move complicates Staples approach to acquiring Corporate Express NV and the largest retailer of office supplies in the U.S. may have to rethink its plans.
Staples today announced operating results from the third fiscal quarter of 2007. The company reported $5.1 billion in sales during the quarter, an 8.6% increase compared with the same quarter in 2006. Operating margin fell from 8.28% during the quarter from 8.45% in the same quarter in 2006. Sales growth came largely from International Operations which experienced an 18% increase in sales during the quarter.
(SPLS -2.00/-13.38%) During the last two weeks in April, Staples' stock price deviated significantly from its usual patterns. A 04/16/07 story in Barron’s suggested that Office Depot (ODP) was cheap compared to Staples. The article claimed that while Staples’ shares were trading at 18 times estimated 2007 earnings, Office Depot shares were trading at just 15 times estimated 2007 earnings. However, there may be other factors contributing to the drop, such as rumors of insider trading.
(SPLS -2.50/-11.00%) Staples usually follows general economic activity, such as changes in market indicators like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite, and this case is no exception. Stocks fell amid concerns over issues ranging from the 9% Chinese Stock market tumble and the U.S. subprime mortgage market, to a larger than expected fall in orders of new durable goods and concerns about mounting political tension in the Middle East.
(SPLS +1.00/3.87%) On 11/14/06 Staples announced that they expected to exceed their previously announced earnings growth predictions.
