The Wall Street Journal-20080111-Earnings Digest Brief -- Barnes - Noble Inc-- Fourth-Quarter Profit Outlook Cut Amid Weak Music Sales
Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080111
Earnings Digest Brief -- Barnes & Noble Inc.: Fourth-Quarter Profit Outlook Cut Amid Weak Music Sales
Barnes & Noble Inc. cut its fourth-quarter earnings guidance by 10 cents a share amid weak holiday music sales, capping a year that included record sales of the last "Harry Potter" novel. The New York- based bookseller now expects fourth-quarter per-share earnings of $1.57 to $1.76. The current mean per-share earnings estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was $1.82. The company said holiday sales in the nine weeks from Nov. 4 through Jan. 5 rose 4.1% to $1.2 billion, though sales in stores open more than one year, or same-store sales, fell 0.4% on weaker-than-expected music sales. Excluding music, same-store sales rose 0.8%. The company said online sales rose 11% for the period to $129.4 million. Barnes & Noble stock dropped 19% yesterday to $27.91. Separately, Borders Group Inc. said holiday sales increased 3.9%, but seasonal price-cutting prompted the company to predict fourth-quarter earnings would be flat or down slightly from last year's $1.45 a share.
