Goldman Sachs Maintains Neutral Rating, Does Not Set PT for Barnes & Noble

In a comment issued earlier today, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. maintained its Neutral rating for Barnes & Noble, Inc.

but did not set a price target, in response to the recently-formed partnership between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble and their their new subsidiary “NewCo.” Goldman Sachs went on to say “Our biggest concern for BKS has been its ability to compete against AAPL [Apple Inc.] and AMZN [Amazon.com, Inc.], two of the deepest-pocketed players in the technology and media world. NewCo now has an equally deep-pocketed partner as well as $300 million of cash upfront, and visibility on another $305 million in revenue. The key question is what MSFT can do to enhance the BKS/NewCo earnings stream; the digital business has been deeply EBITDA negative. The agreement refers to ‘digital content purchased from NewCo by customers using the NewCo Windows 8 applications or through certain Microsoft products and services that may be developed in the future and are designed to interact with the NewCo online bookstore,' raising the question of whether MSFT will develop additional mobile devices that can enhance the sale of ebooks, as the desktop has not been a compelling platform for ebook sales.” Barnes & Noble, Inc. closed at $13.68 on Friday.