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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (13937)	5/26/2000 8:45:00 AM
From: Justa Werkenstiff	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 15132

Friday May 26, 8:16 am Eastern Time Office Depot sees Q2 well below estimates NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters) - Office supplies retailer Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP - news) on Friday said it expected to miss current Wall Street second quarter estimates by at least 18 cents per share, as profits were squeezed by a strong greenback that has reduced the dollar value of foreign sales, plus softer-than-expected sales at stores open for at least one year. The Delray Beach, Fla.-based company said slow comparable retail store sales in the month of May, greater weakness in foreign currencies, and cost savings efforts that have been taking longer to implement than expected are seen to depress second quarter earnings to 4 to 6 cents per share, well below the 24 cents per share analysts consensus estimates quoted by First Call/Thomson Financial, a research company that tracks forecasts. ``While we saw improvement in comparable store sales in the first quarter of this year, performance in the second quarter has failed to meet our expectations,'' said David Fuente, chairman and CEO. ``The greatest sales shortfall occurred in the technology area in our retail stores during the month of May.'' Fuente added, that his company, which operates 836 office supply superstores in the United States and Canada, saw improvements in retail stores performance in June, but he said that such upswing was not going to overcome sales weakness earlier in the quarter. ``While our sales in local currencies in Europe actually are ahead of plan, weaker foreign currencies are having a negative impact on our reported sales and earnings when they are translated into U.S. dollars,'' said Fuente. The stock closed at 10-7/16 on Th