When there's uncertainty to a thesis, I'm not inclined to buy. That might seem obvious on the surface, but I know there are a lot of individual speculators out there who would disagree with me. Take a roll of the dice, they might say. Uncertainty can lead to huge gains, they might counter. Well, it depends on the situation, I suppose. In the case of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS), I think I'll take my chances elsewhere.

At the time of this writing, shares of the bookseller were off by more than 4% in the afternoon session, coming in at $14.36. Volume wasn't yet above average, however.

Bookseller Barnes & Noble (BKS) is slated to take its turn in the earnings spotlight before the opening bell Tuesday, Aug. 24. It's not exactly business as usual for Barnes & Noble, though -- with a proxy battle waging between Chairman Leonard Riggio and activist investor Ron Burkle, there's going to be an unusually harsh media glare on the quarterly results.

Of course, it's not just the financial media who will be eager to get a glimpse at Barnes & Noble's performance. Investors will also be chomping at the bit ahead of the firm's annual meeting, because Burkle has proposed a slate of three nominees for the retailer's board, and Riggio's seat is among those up for reelection. As Reuters' Phil Wahba explained it on Friday, "the extent of the damage is likely to affect who shareholders vote for at next month's annual meeting."

"Last spring, CEO Leonard Riggio of Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) purchased almost $50 million-worth of his company's stock between $27-29.50; today, it languishes on the remainder table at $17.56," says Mark Skousen.

In his income-oriented speciality service, High Income Alert, the advisor says, "Now, a billionaire has also taken a stake." Here's the advisor's update.

"Barnes & Noble is a worthy addition to our model portfolio. Trading well below the level that the CEO purchased shares, we consider the stock a bargain.

"Barnes & Noble owns the nation's largest chain of bookstores, with 800 stores in 50 states. It also owns one of the Web's most-visited Web sites, bn.com. Between its stores and Web site, Barnes and Noble sells more than 300 million books a year.

On Thursday, I expressed skepticism about Borders Group Inc.'s (NYSE: BGP) efforts to sell itself in the face of deteriorating fundamentals and a problematic balance sheet.

The New York Times reports on Wall Street speculation over the past year that Borders might sell itself to its larger rival, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). "A combination of the biggest and second-biggest booksellers has long been believed to be an invitation for regulatory scrutiny."

On a conference call, Barnes & Noble COO Mitchell S. Klipper said that, if approached by Borders, he would "certainly take a good look at the company and put it under review." The company's chairman, Leonard Riggio, told the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "I think it would be the height of irresponsibility for us not to look at something presented to us. If they want us to take a look, we would be pleased to do so. We also feel we would be obliged to do so."

Well of course they would. Why wouldn't they take a good look at the company? But ultimately, I think that the better-run Barnes & Noble will take one look at Borders and decide it doesn't want anything to do with it. The brick-and-mortar book industry is in serious trouble -- there's no real antidote to competition from lower-cost providers like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and even Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). Borders is looking to set up its own e-commerce site, but I can't even imagine what competitive advantage it will have going up against an established rival like Amazon.

Barnes & Noble is faring reasonably well and, given the long-term problems facing the industry, I just can't see any reason for the company to double down on brick-and-mortar book selling, taking on debt to acquire an ailing brand that would need more money to be pumped into it.

Most mergers and acquisitions don't create value, and I doubt that this one would be any exception. Given the strong track record of Barnes & Noble's management, I don't think they'll make that mistake.