NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. office products retailer Staples Inc gave a lackluster outlook for the rest of its fiscal year, assuming only a modest U.S. economic recovery.
The company, which posted a slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, said it expected sales to rise at a low-single-digit percentage range for the year, with earnings of $1.25 to $1.33 a share before items.
Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $1.33 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
In the current quarter, it expects sales to rise in the low single digits and earnings of 18 cents to 20 cents a share before items. Analysts were looking for a profit of 20 cents a share.
The news came less than a month after smaller rival OfficeMax
Quarterly numbers from No. 2 U.S. player Office Depot
Many investors look at office supplies retailers as a barometer of an economy's health as demand for their products is closely tied with white-collar employment rates.
STAPLES (SPLS.NQ) net earnings rose to $188.8 million, or 26 cents a share in the first quarter ended on May 1 from $143 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 28 cents a share, beating the analysts' average forecast of 27 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales rose 4 percent to $6.06 billion.
Sales at Staples' North American stores open at least a year rose 1 percent.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
