UPDATE: Staples Posts Lower Q1 Earnings

Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) reported a drop in its fiscal first-quarter profit.Staples posted its quarterly earnings of $96.2 million, or $0.15 per share, versus $169.9 million, or $0.26 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.18 per share. Its sales declined 2.8% to $5.65 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $5.61 billion. Staples expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.09 to $0.14 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $0.15 per share. Staples projects full-year total restructuring and related charges of $240 million to $360 million. Its same-store sales, excluding website sales, slipped 4%, while traffic dropped 4% y/y. Staples.com sales climbed 6% in local currency in the quarter.Ron Sargent, Staples' chairman and chief executive officer said, “We're making progress meeting the changing needs of our customers as we reinvent Staples.” Staples closed 16 stores in North America in the first quarter and announced plans to close about 80 stores in North America in the second quarter.The executive continued, “Despite a slow start to the first quarter, our results were in line with our expectations and we expect to build momentum throughout 2014.”Staples shares tumbled 10.16% to $12.03 in pre-market trading.