Amazon’s stock is down over 10 percent in early Friday trading (a decline of almost $40 a share) after reporting a larger than expected loss for their second quarter — and forecasting bigger losses for the next quarter. Second quarter sales grew 23 percent to $19.34 billion, with an operating loss of $15 million, and a net loss of $126 million, or 27 cents a share. Sales were right on target with analysts’ estimates, but the loss was bigger than the consensus guess of 15 cents a share. That earnings miss plus third quarter guidance of a big operating loss of anywhere between […]
Earnings Reports
Scholastic Takes $21.4 Charge, Mostly on Storia, Which Will Switch to School Licensing Model
Scholastic reported fourth quarter and full fiscal year earnings on Thursday morning, with sales rising 8 percent to $549 million and operating income increasing more, at $48.6 million. The stock rose in early morning trading on the improved results and positive guidance for next year. But the company disclosed a variety of charges, including a mostly non-cash, pre-tax charge of $21.4 million primarily due to a shift in their Storia ereading platform. Scholastic intends to move the service to a “streaming model,” and as a result they will not support various operating-specific Storia apps. That change and a “settlement charge” […]
Apple Reports Softer iPad Sales, As iTunes Continues Growth
Apple reported third quarter revenue after the close of market on Tuesday, with sales of $37.4 billion (up 6%, largely due to growth in China), and net profit of $7.7 billion. iPad sales of 13.3 million were down 9 percent (from 14.6 million units a year ago), making approximately 227 million iPads sold since launch in spring 2010. The iTunes store segment (which includes their app stores, as well as “revenue from sales of AppleCare, licensing and other services”) rose 12 percent (or almost $500 million), to $4.485 billion for the quarter. Investors were back and forth at first on […]
Google Play Grows Again
Google reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market Thursday. The segment in which they report Google Play sales — “other revenues” — was up 53 percent compared to a year ago, and up 3 percent from the previous quarter. It comprised $1.6 billion for the quarter. The company said “digital sales of apps and content in our Play Store drove the year-over-year growth.” In the investors conference call, the company added that “Google Play continues to grow at breakneck speed across all types of digital content, helping developers and content partners reach users around the world.” At their IO […]
Sales Fall 9 Percent at Bloomsbury On Difficult Comp
In a brief “interim statement,” Bloomsbury reported that fiscal first quarter sales (for the period ending May 31) were down 9 percent compared to a year ago — when they had an unusually strong first quarter. All the decline and then some comes from the adult trade division, “as anticipated,” with sales rising in the Academic & Professional and Children’s & Educational divisions (the latter helped by having John Green’s Paper Towns on the backlist). Chief executive Nigel Newton notes in the release, “We continue to develop Bloomsbury as a wholly integrated trade and academic publisher. This is traditionally a quiet quarter […]
Oxford University Press Results Flat On Year of “Structural Change”
Sales were flat Oxford University Press for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, at £759 million, and profit before tax from continuing operations declined £9 million, to £107 million. The press was able to transfer £50 million to the university. Digital sales comprised 19 percent of total revenues and grew by 7.5 percent during the year. A press release says that sales actually grew on a constant currency basis, by 7 percent (or by 3.6 percent on a continuing operations basis, before accounting for acquisitions — notably, the integration of educational publisher Nelson Thornes). OUP says it “invested in […]