AMZN Amazon.com Inc

Barnes & Noble Inc. reported Wednesday that its loss widened during the final quarter of its fiscal year as revenue was pressured by store closures and lower online sales.

Still, shares, which have fallen nearly 41% in the last 12 months, climbed 6.3% in after-hours trading to $11.10 as the company gave an upbeat outlook for profitability.

For the current fiscal year, the company expects comparable bookstore sales to be between flat and an increase of 1%, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to range from $200 million to $250 million. The midpoint of that range is slightly better than analysts' expectations, according to FactSet.

"As we look ahead to fiscal 2017 and beyond, we are focusing on executing a number of initiatives to grow bookstore and online sales, reduce Retail and NOOK expenses and grow our Membership base," said Chief Executive Ron Boire.

The company said core comparable sales—a metric that excludes newly opened or closed stores and Nook sales—declined 0.8% during the quarter.

Retail sales, which include brick-and-mortar stores and online, fell 2.2% to $850 million. Comparable-store sales declined 0.8% for the quarter. Nook sales slipped 20% to $42 million during the three month period.

The company reported a loss of $30.6 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a loss of $19.4 million, or 37 cents a share, a year prior. On a continuing operations basis, per-share loss was still 42 cents, wider than the 12 cent loss posted a year earlier.

Revenue declined 3.7% to $876.7 million during the quarter, brought lower by store closures and lower online sales. The company said it operates some 640 bookstores in the U.S.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 24 cents a share on revenue of $889 million.

One observer described the retailer's fourth quarter performance as disappointing. "Core comparable-store sales, which exclude the Nook, declined 0.8%, whereas I'd expected an increase for the quarter," said John Tinker, an analyst for Gabelli & Co. "It means they are selling less on a like-to-like basis."

Mr. Tinker said the results make it that much more important that four concept stores that Barnes & Noble plans to open in fiscal 2017 do well. The first is expected to open in Eastchester, N.Y., this October. "They need these stores to reverse the downward trend in retail sales," said Mr. Tinker. "They also need BN.com to work better. You need an online presence."

On the plus side, Mr. Tinker noted that Nook losses are "still coming down, which is good. The problem is that they have to come down further."

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble declined to comment.

Barnes & Noble didn't hold its traditional investor call after releasing its fiscal results. Instead, it is hosting an investor conference on Thursday, June 23, where it will discuss its performance and its business plans.

Barnes & Noble completed the spinoff of its college bookstore group into a new publicly traded company, Barnes & Noble Education Inc., last year. The core company has continued to struggle as book sales have moved to online retailers like Amazon.com Inc. and its e-book business has also struggled.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com and Jeffrey Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2016 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024