Staples.com hurts parent, shares
Staples earnings climb 21 percent; Dot-com loses
By Jeffry Bartash & Jennifer Waters, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 5:12 PM ET May 16, 2000 NewsWatch
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FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (CBS.MW) - Investors beat down the shares of Staples Inc. Tuesday after the nation?s No. 2 office supply retailer said that its online operations were losing money. Its bricks-and-mortar units, however, were still doing a brisk business.
Shares closed down 1 13/16, 9.5 percent, to 17 3/8.
Staples.com, the Web umbrella for Staples Internet sites, lost $23.4 million in operating income in the first quarter. The losses were more than 10-fold last year?s when Staples.com reported a loss of $2.01 million. See press release.
Still that was good news to Staples? (SPLS: news, msgs) executives. ?The quarter we succeeded our revenue projections with fewer losses than we originally anticipated,? said Jeanne B. Lewis, president of Staples.com.
Meanwhile, profits at the parent company surged 21 percent to $63.3 million, or 14 cents a share, outpacing First Call analysts? estimates by five cents. Sales for the quarter rose 20 percent to $2.48 billion. The results do not include the Staples.com losses.
Staples.com is the e-commerce site for small- to large-sized businesses. Its sites include Staples.com, Quill.com and Staples Link.com, plus its Canadian e-commerce business. |
