UPDATE: Staples Swings To Q3 Profit

Staples SPLS posted a profit in the fiscal third quarter. Staples posted a quarterly profit of $135.2 million, or $0.21 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $596.3 million, or $0.89 per share. Excluding items, it earned $0.42 per share. Its sales declined 3.8% to $6.11 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $6.18 billion. Its gross margin fell to 27.1% from 27.5%. Staples shares declined 0.26% to $15.30 in pre-market trading.