Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, book retailer Barnes & Noble
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Barnes & Noble's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Barnes & Noble facts
| Headquarters (founded) | New York (1986) |
| Market Cap | $725.0 million |
| Industry | Specialty stores |
| Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $7.1 billion |
| Management | Founder/Chairman Leonard Riggio CEO William Lynch |
| Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) | (7.8%) |
| Cash/Debt | $54.1 million / $474.2 million |
| Competitors |
Amazon.com Apple Books-A-Million |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 54% of the 650 members who have rated Barnes & Noble believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.
Just last week, one of those Fools, NHWeston102, succinctly summed up the bear case for our community:
[Barnes & Noble] just informed me they are cutting my club membership discounts and raising my costs. [Barnes & Noble] is gasping, trying to imitate and yet falling further behind competitors like [Amazon]. They have begun to invite Starbucks and Caribou Coffee and other "sit-and-read" businesses into their space, but that will likely only prolong the decision to "reinvent" as some sort of REIT or to evaporate. Booklover that I am, it saddens me profoundly.
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Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.
