Barnes & Noble (BKS)

[Gunnski]

BKS showed up today on my radar. I have MOS at $36.65.

Current price still a little to much. It looks like its consolidating and getting ready to take off. I see some Big Boy's money fingerprints on the charts.

Checking with MACD, Stochastics & RSI(14).:laugh1b:

Any thoughts?

FYI!

[Justin]

Barnes & Noble, Inc. is primarily engaged in the sale of books. The Company's principal business is the sale of trade books (generally hardcover and paperback consumer titles, excluding educational textbooks and specialized religious titles), mass market paperbacks (such as mystery, romance, science fiction and other fiction), children's books, bargain books, magazines, music and movies direct to customers. As of January 28, 2006, it operated 799 bookstores. Of the 799 bookstores, 681 bookstores operated primarily under the Barnes & Noble Booksellers trade name (Barnes & Noble stores) and 118 operated primarily under the B. Dalton Bookseller trade name (B. Dalton stores). The Company conducts the online part of its business through barnesandnoble.com llc (Barnes & Noble.com), a seller of books on the Internet. It publishes books under its own imprints, which also include the imprints of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. The Company also owns a majority interest in Calendar Club L.L.C.

Company Profile for Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS)
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Barnes & Noble), incorporated in 1986, is primarily engaged in the sale of books. The Company's principal business is the sale of trade books (generally hardcover and paperback consumer titles, excluding educational textbooks and specialized religious titles), mass-market paperbacks (such as mystery, romance, science fiction and other fiction), children's books, bargain books, magazines, music and movies direct to customers. As of January 28, 2006, Barnes & Noble operated 799 bookstores. Of the 799 bookstores, 681 bookstores operated primarily under the Barnes & Noble Booksellers trade name (Barnes & Noble stores) and 118 operated primarily under the B. Dalton Bookseller trade name (B. Dalton stores). The Company conducts the online part of its business through barnesandnoble.com llc (Barnes & Noble.com), a seller of books on the Internet. Barnes & Noble publishes books under its own imprints, which also include the imprints of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. (Sterling Publishing). Through Sterling Publishing, the Company operates as a general trade book publisher. It also owns a majority interest in Calendar Club L.L.C. (Calendar Club).

Bookstores

As of January 28, 2006, the Company operated 681 Barnes & Noble stores, which were located in 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia. Barnes & Noble operates its book retailing business with a community store concept. Its typical store offers a title base, a cafe, a children's section, a music department, a magazine section and a calendar of ongoing events, including author appearances and children's activities. Barnes & Noble stores range in size from 10,000 to 60,000 square feet depending upon market size, with an overall average store size of 25,000 square feet. Most of the B. Dalton stores range in size from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet. B. Dalton generally discounts between 15% and 30% off publishers' suggested retail prices for hardcover bestsellers. B. Dalton also offers the Barnes & Noble Membership Program, entitles the customer to receive a 10% discount in the Company's stores and on the Barnes & Noble.com Website along with other benefits.

As of January 28, 2006, Barnes & Noble had stores in 159 of the total 210 designated market area (DMA) markets. Most stores offer extended shopping hours, generally from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Each Barnes & Noble store features a selection of books, ranging from 60,000 to 200,000 titles. Complementing the Company's onsite selection, all Barnes & Noble stores provide customers with access to the millions of books available to online shoppers at Barnes & Noble.com, while offering an option to have the book sent to the store or shipped directly to the customer.

Many of the Barnes & Noble stores have music departments, which range in size from 1,700 to 7,800 square feet. The music departments generally stock over 40,000 titles in classical music, opera, jazz, blues and pop rock, and a collection of digital versatile discs (DVDs). The music department features RedDotNet, an advanced listening station technology. RedDotNet enables customers to listen to any compact disc in the store, sampling up to 200,000 music titles using scanner technology. RedDotNet is connected to the Company's online electronic music catalog.

Barnes & Noble.com

Barnes & Noble.com sells books, music and movies, and to a lesser extent, used books, gifts, educational games, and toys and video games. Barnes & Noble.com's service, Fast&Free Delivery, enables customers in the continental United States to receive their deliveries within three business days. Barnes & Noble.com provides content features, such as Meet the Writers, What America's Reading, audio and video author interviews, and online reading groups, as well as third-party reviews, first chapters and table of contents, and thousands of music clips and video trailers. Barnes & Noble.com has an affiliate network of more than 200,000 Websites, which earn referral fees by linking their users to Barnes & Noble.com. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

The Company's subsidiary, Sterling Publishing is a general trade book publisher. Its active title list consists of over 5,000 titles, and publishes several hundred titles each year. Sterling's publication list includes books for enthusiasts, which include mind enhancement, puzzles and games, crafts, home repair and remodeling, woodworking, photography, and wines and spirits. Sterling's list consists of books that it originates itself, purchases from domestic and international book packagers, and those that it distributes for other publishers.

Calendar Club L.L.C.

Barnes & Noble owns an approximate 74% interest in Calendar Club. Calendar Club is an operator of seasonal kiosks.

The Company competes with Borders Group, Inc., Books-A-Million, Waldenbooks, Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Costco.

Useful Links for information on Barnes & Noble (BKS)

• Barnes & Noble (BKS) at Google Finance
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) at Wikipedia
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) News & Headlines by Google
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) News & Headlines by Topix.net
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) Transcripts by SeekingAlpha

Recent News of Interest on Barnes & Noble (BKS)

• Barnes & Noble could go private: Cramer
• UPDATE 1-Barnes & Noble says same-store sales down
• UPDATE 2-Barnes & Noble says same-store sales decrease
• Insider Trading Activity for Barnes & Noble (BKS)

Stephen Riggio ---> Chief Executive Officer Since: 05/01/2003

• Bio & Compensation - Reuters
• Trading Activity - Yahoo Finance

[kosmo]

Gunnski, what about BKS caught your eye and put it on the radar?

It's not exactly an R1 company with those financials (not that all investments have to be R1, but this is an R1 forum after all).

Also, your MOS seems very generous. By my estimates, I'd give it around $18-$19 MOS. What is it you are seeing that justify's $36.65?

[Gunnski]

Kosmo,

Nice call. I was way off here. I have MOS at $23.50. DNQ on ROIC alone. No value here anyway!

[SeanieT]

What was your PE?
I used my Default PE at 19.7 (2*EPS Growth Rate of 9.87).
As far as Growth Rates using the the Analyst Est Gr Rate of 13% I got an MOS of $15.91.
Using the Average Growth Rate(Average of my Equit in the past 10 yrs), which was 5%, I got a $7.93 for a MOS.
Where was I wrong? I am just trying to make my numbers more accurate.

[petekoch]

FWIW, I looked into the B&N.com several years back. I passed, largely because I didn't like what I saw about management -- lots of nepotism. Mgmt of BKS and the .com stock was the same and the insider family owned lots of stock in both, but my investigations led me to feel they were running things for their own benefit and not for outside shareholders. Reminded me of the Trump bankrupcy back when: everyone took it on the chin (among other places) except for the Donald.

I don't remember the specifics about B&N -- it has to be 6 or 7 years-- but you might want to really investigate the management before you leap.

They've got great bookstores, though.

Argggh.

[petekoch]

A money manager's take on BKS from October, 2006:

Hitting the Books (Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Borders Group, Wendy's International, McDonald's) | SmartMoney.com