Staples Shares Just Tanked Because Of This

Shares of office supply powerhouse Staples dropped in pre market trading on Thursday after the company released Q4 earnings.

Shares were down almost 4% in pre-market trading after the company missed on both earnings and revenue.

For the fourth quarter of 2016, Staples reported a net loss of $615 million, or $0.94 per share. This was against a profit of $86 million, or 20 cents per share, for the same period last year.

Adjusted non-GAAP earnings for the retailer came in at $0.25 per share. This was only one cent below the consensus estimate but enough to make investors nervous.

Investors also didn’t like that total sales at $4.6 billion were a 3% drop compared to the same period last year as well as well below the $5 billion that Wall Street had expected.

Staples chief executive officer Shira Goodman stated, “Our fourth quarter results were right in-line with our expectations. I’m increasingly confident that we have the right plan and the right team to transform Staples and get back to sustainable sales and earnings growth.”

Looking ahead, Staples’ EPS guidance is at $0.15 to $0.18 for the first quarter of the year. The consensus estimate is at $0.17.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) and have not been compensated for this article.