Barnes & Noble Shares Drop On Earnings Miss, Continued Nook Declines

Barnes & Noble Inc. shares are down 1.1% in premarket trading after the company's earnings missed estimates in the third quarter. The bookseller said net income was $80.3 million, or $1.04 per share, up from $72.2 million, or 96 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was $1.06 per share. Revenue was $1.41 billion for the quarter, up from $1.44 billion last year and meeting the FactSet estimate. The company said retail sales were down 1.2% to $1.4 billion due to a decrease in online sales and store closures. Retail same-store sales were up 0.2%. Nook sales were down 33.3% to $51.7 million due largely to lower device and content sales. The company expects same-store sales to be about flat for fiscal 2016. Barnes & Noble is closing the fewest stores since fiscal 2000 and will launch a new store concept later this year with four new stores in fiscal 2017, said Chief Executive Ron Boire in a Thursday statement. Barnes & Noble shares are down 37.9% for the past year, but up 17.5% for the year so far. The S&P 500 is down 2.8% for the year to date.