Staples Swings to a Loss on Restructuring

Staples wung to a loss in the third quarter hurt by restructuring costs and slower sales.

The office supply chain retailer reported a loss of $596 million or 89 cents per share in the latest quarter on Wednesday.

But excluding those charges, the company reported quarterly earnings that narrowly beat nalysts' expectations. Ex-items earnings came in at 46 ents a share, compared to expectations of 45 cents per share.

Revenue declined to $6.35 billion from $6.57 billion a year ago. Analysts expected Staples to report $6.45 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomas Reuters.

Following the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose 1.4 percent in pre-market trading. (Get real-time quotes for Staples here.)