NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Staples (SPLS) were gaining 1.7% to $12.83 on Monday following a report that the office supply retailer's merger with Office Depot (ODP) is closer to gaining approval.

The Federal Trade Commission recently met with a large corporate customer of Staples to discuss a solution to an antitrust issue related to the merger, according to the New York Post. The Post said information about the report came from a confidential report issued by Bank of America (BAC).

The report allegedly suggests that the FTC is interested finding a solution to any issues in the proposed merger instead of preventing Staples and Office Depot from merging.

"We believe the FTC discussing remedies with customers is a positive versus where the market is pricing the spread as it indicates the FTC may be open to clearing the transaction," Bank of America said in the report the Post obtained.

While the reported meeting could lead to the FTC approving the merger, there is still a chance it will be stopped.

TheStreet Ratings team rates STAPLES INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

We rate STAPLES INC (SPLS) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and increase in stock price during the past year. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and poor profit margins.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

  • Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 100.00% to $0.00 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, STAPLES INC has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -10.77%.
  • SPLS's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.21 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.72 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.
  • SPLS, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 9.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 5.4%. The declining revenue appears to have seeped down to the company's bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
  • The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Specialty Retail industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 56.0% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $81.88 million to $36.00 million.
  • Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. Compared to other companies in the Specialty Retail industry and the overall market, STAPLES INC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
  • You can view the full analysis from the report here: SPLS