Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. swung to a loss in its third quarter, saying Thursday that "a significant drop-off" in traffic and consumer spending hurt business. The company also reduced its full-year sales and earnings forecasts.
Shares tumbled $1.27, or 10 percent, to $11.83 in morning trading, reaching $11.66 shortly after the market open, the stock's lowest point in more than a decade.
Barnes & Noble reported a loss of $18.4 million, or 34 cents per share, compared with profit of $4.4 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. The loss totaled 21 cents per share excluding a charge.
The company said revenue dipped to $1.12 billion from $1.18 billion. Same-store sales fell 7.4 percent.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items, expected a smaller loss of 16 cents per share on higher revenue of $1.17 billion.
"A significant drop-off in customer traffic and consumer spending impacted our business in the third quarter," said Chief Executive Steve Riggio. He said the company is taking measures to reduce expenses for the rest of this year and next.
Book sellers are facing an incredibly difficult period, feeling competition from discount retailers such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and online retailers such as Amazon.com, as well as being under new pressure from falling consumer spending.
Barnes & Noble said it is "difficult to forecast sales with any certainty" in such an environment, but reduced its full-year sales and earnings forecasts based on what it sees to date.
The company now expects fourth-quarter profit of $1.40 to $1.70 per share and $1.30 to $1.60 per share for the year. Analysts see $1.65 per share for the quarter and $1.63 per share for the year, on average.
Barnes & Noble also expects same-store sales to drop 6 percent to 9 percent in the fourth quarter and 5 percent to 6 percent for the full year.
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