Barnes & Noble Q3 Profit Rises - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) Tuesday reported a rise in earnings for its fiscal third quarter, as retail comparable store sales decreased 0.3 percent.

Net earnings increased to $72.2 million, or $0.93 per share, from $63.2 million, or $0.86 per share, a year earlier.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated earnings to be $1.23. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues declined to $1.96 billion, from $2.00 billion in the comparable quarter last year, while four analysts expected $1.92 billion.

Retail comparable store sales decreased 0.3 percent. Excluding Nook products, retail comparable store sales increased 1.7 percent.

Looking ahead, the company continues to expect retail comparable bookstore sales to decline in the low-single digits, while Retail Core comparable bookstore sales are expected to be approximately flat. Based on the better than expected comparable sales performance, the company now expects College comparable store sales to be approximately flat for the fiscal year.