Barnes & Noble Falls after Disappointing Earnings

Bookseller Barnes & Noble

reported sales and earnings for fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 on Tuesday. The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $1.4 billion that increased 0.4% compared to Q4 2011. In addition, Barnes & Noble's reported a fourth-quarter loss of $57.7 million, or $1.08 per share. Barnes & Noble's fourth-quarter earnings per share and revenue both missed analyst expectations. Analysts expected a loss per share of $0.93 on revenues of approximately $1.5 billion. Barnes & Noble's fourth quarter earnings before tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) loss of $11.1 million was 51% improved compared to that of Q4 2011. Consolidated revenues increased 2% to $7.1 billion for full-year 2012 compared to the prior year. Full-year EBITDA increased 5% to $174.4 million. The consolidated net loss improved 7% from 2011 to $68.9 million, or $1.41 per share. Barnes & Noble also announced that it will now report results for a separate NOOK operating segment and include BN.com in the Retail segment. BN.com was previously a separate reporting segment. Tuesday's earnings come after Barnes & Noble had spent much of Monday refuting rumors that it would be co-launching a tablet with Microsoft

. True to the company's word, the Microsoft Surface tablet was unveiled without mention of Barnes & Noble. In a statement, CEO William Lynch said,“We grew our business in 2012 while continuing to make the necessary investments for the future of the business.” Lynch said, “In digital, our NOOK content sales continued to explode with 119% year-on year growth. In the quarter we also announced a historic new partnership with Microsoft that will include a significant investment in Newco, and that will capitalize the company to fuel continued growth in digital and international expansion." He continued, “Lastly, we announced NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, that we started shipping in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, which has quickly become the highest rated eReader in the market." Retail sales were $1.1 billion for the fourth-quarter and $4.9 billion for the full-year. Same store sales at the company's 700 stores increased 4.5% compared with this time last year. Shares of Barnes & Noble traded more than 5% lower for the day.