Booksellers

From a short-term, publisher perspective, Barnes & Noble’s fiscal third quarter report was in line with their holiday sales update, showing sales just $400,000 below flat at $1.231 billion. Actual book sales did fall a bit, by $7.6 million or 1.2 percent, as non-book sales rose $19.1 million, or 4.9 percent, particularly as the company picked up the slack in the toy market. From a more existential, investor perspective, though, it was another poor quarter with little prospect of improvement on the horizon. Adjusted EBITDA of $133 million was down $6.5 million, due to the increased marketing and promotional spend […]

Barnes & Noble Education’s shares were down close to 30 percent in the first two hours of trading on Tuesday, after the company once again released lower-than-expected earnings and reduced guidance. Fiscal third quarter sales of $550 million fell 8.8 percent, down from $603 million a year ago. (Second quarter sales had fallen 8.1 percent; first quarter sales were down 5.1 percent.) Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $22 million, down from $34.6 million in the prior year period. The continuing poor results led the company to reduce its 2019 guidance, with consolidated sales now expected to be in the range of […]

Indigo reported third quarter revenue just below flat for the 13 weeks ending December 29, 2018, with sales of $426 (CA) million compared to $433.3 million for the same period last year, a decrease of 1.7 percent. Comparable superstore sales were flat, with small format store comps up 2.8 percent, as online sales declined by $1.5 million, to $75 million overall. The company billed the results as “satisfying” given the challenges during and leading into the period: A strike at Canada Post, a delayed renovation schedule, the closure of two low-performing stores, an increase in the minimum wage, plus an accounting […]

Amazon reported fourth quarter results Thursday afternoon, and after a run up before the report, shares fell more than 4 percent in the first 30 minutes of trading on Friday. The market’s sour reaction was based on tepid guidance: The company currently expects Q1 sales growth of between only 10 percent and 18 percent compared to Q1 2018. As well, cfo Brian Olsavsky told investors on yesterday’s conference call that investment was likely to increase compared to last year. Fourth quarter sales were $72.4 billion, a 20 percent increase over the same period last year, and net income increased to […]