Barnes & Noble reported fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday morning for the period ending January 31, with sales of $1.96 billion down $35 million from a year ago. EBITDA improved by $24 million to $197 million, and consolidated earnings rose to $72 million (93 cents per share), compared to $63 million (86 cents per share) a year ago. That’s better for the company’s basic health, but it’s much lower than analysts had expected, looking for profits of $1.19 to $1.41 a share according to various estimates. More importantly, the apparent “gain” actually just reflects losing less money on Nook as those sales evaporate; EBITDA at […]