Earnings

Return to Article

Earnings Preview: Barnes & Noble Inc.

The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. reports earnings for its fiscal first quarter on Thursday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

OVERVIEW: Barnes & Noble is still struggling with weak sales as consumers' tight discretionary spending limits their book and music purchases. This compounds the existing problems for business at Barnes & Noble, which has been losing market share to online and discount booksellers like Amazon.com for some time.

Barnes & Noble's profit dropped 29 percent in the most recent quarter, which included the holiday season — usually retailers' busiest time of the year.

New York-based Barnes & Noble, which is the nation's largest bookstore chain, has tried to fight back by cutting jobs, reducing other costs and acquiring Fictionwise, an e-book retailer, to capture some of the growing market for electronic books.

Investors have welcomed the changes, sending shares up over the quarter. But the company and analysts still expect sales to decline.

BY THE NUMBERS: Barnes & Noble said in March that it expects to post a loss of 10 cents to 20 cents per share for the first quarter. The company anticipates same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, will fall between 6 percent and 9 percent for the quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post a loss of 15 cents per share for the quarter.

ANALYST TAKE: William Armstrong, an analyst for CL King & Assoc., said same-store sales are likely to fall within the range indicated by management. He said music remains the weakest performing category of its business.

In a research note Tuesday, he said competitive pricing also continues to hurt sales, indicated by the precipitous drop in same-store sales figures. But the company's gross margins are likely to be flat.

WHAT'S AHEAD: The company's management has said its e-book strategy will be developed in phases but would not release details ahead of those launches.

STOCK PERFORMANCE: Shares grew 58 percent during the quarter.