Shares in Avery Dennison Corp. lost nearly 4 percent Monday after the company lowered its forecast for 2007 profit.

The Pasadena-based office supply and radio-frequency identification label maker said it lowered its guidance due to poor sales in July and August, which were “well below expectations,” Avery’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel O’Bryant said in a statement.

Avery said that if sales continue at their current levels, profit for the full-year could be 15 cents per share off its earlier forecast in the $3.90 range, he said. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of $3.95 per share.

O’Bryant blamed the poor summer performance on a weak market for the label materials business in the United States and Western Europe as well as more aggressive competition and a “soft retail environment.”

Shares in Avery fell $2.24, or 3.8 percent, to $56.15 in afternoon trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.