We See Potential Downside for Office Depot And Staples: Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Co

analysts expects potential downside for both Office Depot Inc

, as well as, Staples, Inc.

. Their reaction came on the heels of the federal district court granting an injunction from the FTC to block the planned merger between the two office products suppliers. Both the companies intend to scrap their earlier merger deal as the two companies were unlikely to appeal before the court, according to Wells Fargo. That also meant that Staples would cancel its agreement to divest its big corporate contract business to ESND. The brokerage expects meaningful weakness to prevail in both the stocks on Wednesday. Its analysts have also reiterated its Sector Weight ratings citing the end market for office products continued to remain challenged and that the competition was growing. As far as Staples was concerned, the financial advisor sees potential of as much as 23% downside to $8 based on EV/EBITDA of 4x; factors in $250 million breakup fee paid to ODP. Similarly, for Office Depot, the brokerage sees potential for as much as 26% downside to ~$4.50 based on EV/EBITDA of 3x; factors in $250 million breakup fee received from SPLS. Wells Fargo also noted the four-pronged tactical plan to improve shareholder value in the wake of merger termination. That included increasing focus on mid-market customers in N. America and categories beyond office supplies. The second factor was exploring strategic alternatives for European operations while the third related to the initiating of new $300 million cost cutting measures to be achieved by the year 2018. The final plan was the continuous return of cash to shareholders. That included $100 million share repo in 2016, commencing from the second quarter. While SPLS traded 16.02% down, ODP shares plunged 38.5% on Wednesday.