Staples Rallies on Hopes of Merger With Rival Office Depot

Shares of Staples surged on Tuesday making it TheStreet's Move of the Day. The office supplies chain rallied after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to outperform, recommending it buy rival Office Depot as a strategy to compete with online retailers such as Amazon. In a research note, analyst Gary Balter said he conservatively estimates synergies $1.44 billion, and that a merger would more than double operating profits of the combined by 2017. In the note, Balter wrote, “We believe that a merger of the remaining office supply superstore chains, Staples and Office Depot, makes significant financial and operational sense."