If Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) misses estimates again it will be the fifth consecutive quarter for the company. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 30. Barnes & Noble is engaged in sale of trade books, mass market paperbacks, children's books, bargain books, magazines, gift, music and movies direct to customers.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are divided on Barnes & Noble, with equal numbers rating the stock a buy, sell, and hold. Analysts like Barnes & Noble better than competitor Hastings Entertainment overall. Zero out of one analysts rate Hastings Entertainment a buy compared to one of three for Barnes & Noble.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.46 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of 94 cents per share. Estimates range from a loss of $1.12 to a loss of 82 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are split on BKS, with 50% rating it an "outperform" and 50% giving it an "underperform" rating. Fools Barnes & Noble and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 325 posts in the past 30 days. Barnes & Noble's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

27.5%

26.4%

23.6%

25.2%

Operating Margin

-5.9%

4.9%

-0.5%

-6.3%

Net Margin

-4.3%

2.6%

-0.7%

-4.5%

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