Barnes & Noble's
If you consult our Fool by Numbers for the quarter, you'll see Barnes & Noble reported a loss of $2.8 million, or $0.04 per share, including $0.03 per share in stock option expense. Sales increased 3% to $1.11 billion. Same-store sales rose 2%, with B. Dalton being a trouble spot due to store closures.
Several bestsellers helped sales, including books by John Grisham and Barack Obama. Mitch Albom's book, For One More Day, was another hit -- you might recognize that title, since Starbucks
The major theme in Barnes & Noble's conference call was its decision to further lower prices on adult hardcover books in its membership program. "We believe that giving . some of the margin gains that we have realized back to our customers is a good long-term strategy," CEO Steve Riggio said.
Indeed. It's not lost on anyone that this is a hyper-competitive business these days. There's Borders
The holiday season is fast approaching (in fact, given retailers' early push this year, you could argue that it's already begun), and that's a great time for a company like Barnes & Noble; people are hitting the streets in droves looking for gifts for their families and friends.
However, Barnes & Noble's new emphasis on price-busting bears watching as it tries to drive higher growth in such a competitive space -- investors are going to want to see how well it does achieving higher sales volume and how that impacts profitability. It seems to me this is a good time to grab a book and wait awhile for Barnes & Noble.
For more, turn to the following Foolish articles:
- Check out the numbers with the third-quarter Fool by Numbers.
- Earlier this year, Barnes & Noble missed Harry Potter.
- Wall Street threw the book at the bookseller in May.
Amazon.com and Starbucks are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. To find out what other companies David and Tom Gardner have highlighted as worthy investments, click here for a 30-day free trial.
Alyce Lomax owns shares of Starbucks. The Fool has a disclosure policy.