Barnes & Noble Education Inc (NYSE:BNED) shares suffered as the company posted underwhelming earnings.
For its most recent quarter, the college bookstore operator revealed that it earned 63 cents per share, missing analysts’ expectations of 78 cents per share. It was a six-cent per share loss compared to the year-ago period.
As far as revenue goes, Barnes & Noble Education raked in $770.7 million, which was slightly lower than the $770.8 million that Wall Street had projected for the company’s three-month period.
34 new Barnes & Noble Education stores opened during the quarter, helping to drive sales up 2%. However, same-store sales told a different story as they slipped 2.9% as a weaker retail environment hurt the company.
For the company’s fiscal full year 2016, same-store sales are expected to fall 2% to 3%, while revenue will rise 3% and 4%. Comparable sales are expected to be in the range of being flat to a 2% surge, while net sales will grow between 2% and 4%.
CEO Max J. Roberts revealed that the decline in comparable store sales fell because of lower enrollments in universities where Barnes & Noble Education operates.
“Since we experienced lower textbook and general merchandise sales on our campuses, we are continuing the roll out of our price matching program and adjusting our promotional strategy in a targeted and disciplined manner to reflect current market conditions, and are continuing our cost management initiatives across the company,” he said.
BNED stock fell 13.4% Tuesday afternoon.
