Barnes & Noble widens its loss but sticks by its full-year profit forecast

Posted May 22nd 2008 5:29PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings Reports

New York-based Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) reported Thursday that it lost $2.22 million, or 4 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 3. That compares with a loss of $1.67 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a charge related to the settlement of a long-standing dispute with the State of California, the bookseller would have earned 5 cents per share.

The company said revenues edged up to $1.16 billion in the first quarter, from $1.15 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of 5 cents per share on revenues of $1.17 billion.

Barnes & Noble also reported that same-store sales declined 1.5% in the period. Based on the challenging retail environment, the company said that it expects same-store sales for the second quarter to decline as well from the year-ago period, when Harry-Potter-mania was in full swing. It also projected that full-year same-store sales would be negative.

However, the company said it is maintaining its full-year earnings per share forecast to be in the range of $1.70 to $1.90. Second-quarter earnings per share are expected to be in a range of 8 cents to 13 cents; analysts are forecasting 9 cents per share.

Barnes & Noble's shares fell 8 cents to $29.87 Thursday. Shares have fallen 13.3% since the beginning of the year.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Tags: Barnes and Noble, BKS, Borders, earnings, earnings reports