Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS, Financial) reported its first-quarter 2018 results before the opening bell on Sept. 7.
The New York-based company posted a loss of 15 cents per share, greater than the analysts’ estimated loss of 12 cents but an improvement from the 20 cents per share loss it reported a year ago. Quarterly revenue of $853.3 million missed expectations of $873 million and declined 6.6% from $913.9 million in the year-ago quarter.
The graph below illustrates the trend in the company’s revenue growth since 2009.
Same-store sales declined 4.9% during the quarter as the deteriorating performance of nonbook categories offset improved book trends. Online and Nook e-reader sales were also lower.
Shares fell more than 10% following the announcement to open at $7.05.
Despite the miss, CEO Demos Parneros said the company’s earnings results for the quarter improved from last year as “[they] were able to mitigate the sales decline through expense reductions.”
Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was $11.2 million, up from $9.6 million a year ago. Nook generated $600,000 in EBITDA, an $8.6 million improvement from the prior-year quarter due to expense reductions, but retail EBITDA of $10.6 million declined by $7 million due to lower same-store sales, which were slightly impacted by these expense reductions.
"We expect to improve our performance in the back half of the year, which coupled with our focus on expense reduction, will enable us to achieve EBITDA of $180 million," Parneros said.
In addition to this EBITDA guidance, the company expects same-store sales to witness a low single-digit decline.
Among the gurus invested in Barnes & Noble, David Abrams (Trades, Portfolio) has the largest holding with 4.83% of outstanding shares. During the quarter, Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) added to their positions while Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) established positions.
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned.
