BKS posts
FeedPosted Oct 19th 2009 8:40AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Sony Corp ADR (SNE)
For retailers, the crucial season is on its way. Blow the Christmas rush, and next year starts off on a miserable foot. Success, of course, also delivers a healthy dose of momentum -- and a little bit of wiggle room, important in what will continue to be a tough economy through at least the first half of next year. For booksellers, now contending with a new variable in the form of digital readers, e-readers will play a major role in defining the winners and losers. So far, it looks like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is off to a great start, and it will take some genuine innovation for the competition to chip away at its market share.
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), once the leading names in literary retail, is expected to release its own e-reader this week. It will look a bit like Amazon's Kindle, according to Reuters, but with a touch screen intended to make the reader's experience easier. The price hasn't been disclosed yet, but rumor has it that it'll be higher than the Kindle's $259. BKS is staying mum on its plans in this space. There are others in the space, as well, including IREX Technologies, which is a spinoff of Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG), Asutek (tk: tk) and a project called FirstPaper that has Hearst behind it.
Continue reading Amazon in the lead, but Kindle competition is coming
Posted Aug 22nd 2009 12:10PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Home Depot (HD), Target Corp. (TGT), Penney (J.C.) (JCP), Agilent Technologies (A), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Lowe's Cos (LOW), Limited Brands (LTD), Deere and Co (DE), salesforce.com inc (CRM), Trina Solar ADS (TSL)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: B&N, Deere, Heinz, Home Depot, HP, Sears, Target ...
Posted Aug 20th 2009 6:30PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN)
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), a bookseller that competes with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), and Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP), issued a Q2 earnings report on Thursday morning that in no way makes me want to invest in the company. As far as I'm concerned, the retailer has a lot of work to do, and I wouldn't want to involve my portfolio with a business that is still trying to find its way.
Barnes & Noble earned 14 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Earnings.com reports an expectation of 10 cents per share. So management went beyond projections. Should shareholders be content with such news and call it a day?
Continue reading Barnes & Noble struggles with comps in the second quarter
Posted Aug 10th 2009 4:40PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals
Barnes & Noble (NYSE:
BKS) announced today that it will acquire Barnes & Noble College Booksellers -- an operator of book stores on college campuses -- for $596 million.
The hitch? Barnes & Noble College Booksellers is owned by Leonard Riggio, the chairman of Barnes Noble. In a
press release announcing the deal, Barnes & Noble said that "Based on College's fiscal 2009 results, BKS would have realized incremental earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) of $115 million from acquired operations and assets. The transaction will also result in the elimination of BKS' annual royalty payments for online textbook sales, which amounted to $6 million in fiscal year 2008."
And what of the apparent conflict of interest? Don't worry: The company established a special committee to evaluate the proposed deal.
Normally a related party deal of this magnitude would sounds all kinds of alarm bells. But because it was already a partner company, it smells less bad. But still: In negotiating the deal, Mr. Riggio's loyalties had to have been divided. The special committee can ensure the fairness of the transaction, but it can't ensure that B&N paid the lowest possible price for the company. At some point Mr. Riggio was torn between his duties to B&N shareholders and his status as the owner of B&N College Booksellers. This is why related-party transactions are generally seen as something to be avoided.
Posted May 23rd 2009 2:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Home Depot (HD), McDonald's (MCD), Gap Inc (GPS), Lowe's Cos (LOW), Hormel Foods (HRL), Limited Brands (LTD), Suntech Power Hldgs ADS (STP)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: HP, Gap, Saks, Hormel, Barnes & Noble and more
Posted Apr 24th 2009 3:40PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Internet, Amazon.com (AMZN)
Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN) is having a good day. At the time of this writing, shares of the online retailer are up well over 6% on great volume. The catalyst is the earnings report that was released on Thursday after the bell. Should individual investors share this euphoric mood and buy along with the institutions?
Well, the numbers do look nice. Sales rose 18% in the first quarter. Net income increased 20% to $0.41 per share. And free cash flow was said to have rocketed higher by over 80% over the last twelve months. These are impressive stats. And according to this news article, Amazon management beat analysts by a whopping ten pennies. That's a whole dime, my friends! Looks like people are using the electronic shopping cart a lot these days. Perhaps they find value in shopping at home during a recession. Saves fuel costs, and it's a lot easier to research prices and find deals.
Continue reading Amazon's earnings please the market, but should you put the stock in your shopping cart?
Posted Apr 1st 2009 3:50PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN)
Borders Group (NYSE:
BGP), a book retailer that competes with
Barnes & Noble (NYSE:
BKS),
Wal-Mart (NYSE:
WMT), and
Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN), reported fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, and I'm happy to say that they beat analyst projections! I'm sad to say, however, that beating the analysts doesn't make me want to buy this awful stock.
According to this news source, Borders delivered adjusted income equal to $1.05 per share. The market was looking for $0.95 per share. Beating by a dime is a pretty wide margin and something to celebrate. If you're a healthy company, that is. Borders is not a healthy company. It's had all kinds of problems. For instance, Zac Bissonnette recently reported on the bookseller's debt problems and how it needed to secure a loan to stay running. Elizabeth Harrow discussed the terrible holiday-selling season and the replacement of the CEO back in January. And there have been workforce reductions.
Continue reading Borders wins the earnings game, but it's still a loser in my book
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