| Over a week ago | ||||
Barnes & Noble… Barnes & Noble Education confirmed that it has received correspondence from Outerbridge Capital regarding its intent to nominate four director candidates to stand for election at BNED's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the BNED board will carefully review and consider Outerbridge's director candidates, as well as the validity of the purported nomination notice delivered by Outerbridge. A formal recommendation regarding director nominees will be included in the company's proxy statement and other materials. | ||||
| Over a month ago | ||||
The looters tore off the… The looters tore off the plywood that boarded up Macy's (M) flagship store in Herald Square, swarming by the dozens inside to steal whatever they could find before being chased down by the police, The New York Times' Christina Goldbaum, Liam Stack and Alex Traub report. Others smashed the windows at a Nike (NKE) store, they crashed into a Coach (TPR) store, vandalized a Barnes & Noble (BNED), ransacked a Bergdorf Goodman branch and destroyed scores of smaller storefronts along the way, the authors noted. The mayhem late on Monday night and into the early morning marred otherwise peaceful protests conducted by thousands of people across the city in the wake of the death of George Floyd, with Governor Andrew Cuomo criticizing on Tuesday the city's response. Reference Link | ||||
Shares of Barnes &… | ||||
News broke last night… News broke last night that one of the three California state-financed university systems, the California State University system, plans to conduct the fall 2020 semester completely online, Needham analyst Ryan MacDonald tells investors in a research note. The university system includes 23 schools with over 300,000 students, the analyst points out. This is a negative for Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), says MacDonald, as the company manages on-campus bookstores for five of the 23 universities. Further, while not direct beneficiaries, the news is a potential positive for 2U (TWOU) and Chegg (CHGG), contends the analyst. | ||||
The Company announced… The Company announced that it continues to be actively engaged with its strategic review process. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a transaction or announcement of any kind. The Company does not currently intend to comment further on its strategic review process unless and until the Board has approved a specific course of action or otherwise determined that further disclosure is appropriate or required by law. | |
BNED has experienced an… BNED has experienced an unprecedented and significant impact on its business as a result of COVID-19 related campus store closures. The stores pride themselves on being a support system for the campus communities they serve. The Company remains in close contact with academic leadership to ensure it is supporting their needs during this difficult time. While its campus stores are closed, the Company continues to serve institutions and students through its campus websites, providing free shipping on all orders and an expanded digital content offering to provide immediate access to course materials to students at BNED campuses that have closed due to COVID-19. To mitigate the impact of the business disruption, the Company has taken steps to significantly reduce costs, including furloughing the majority of its Retail workforce. The Company is reviewing its expense and capital spending to prudently manage its liquidity. While there is no assurance that the Company will achieve its objectives and plans, management currently believes that the Company's financial resources, including ongoing access to its credit facility, provide sufficient liquidity to alleviate any near-term need to obtain additional financing to support its business operations. The Company plans to provide additional information when it reports fiscal year 2020 earnings on or about July 9, 2020. |
| Over a quarter ago | ||||
Barnes & Noble… Barnes & Noble Education announced various steps it is taking to help address some of the challenges that the schools and students it serves are facing due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 virus. Yesterday, the company announced that it has joined VitalSource and other publishers in providing free access to eTextbooks for students at BNED campuses that have closed due to COVID-19 through the remainder of the Spring term. Given the continued transition to online and distance learning programs by colleges and universities nationwide, to help students, BNED is also offering targeted free self-tutoring and writing services through its bartleby suite of services, which will continue to provide students with 24/7 on-demand access to academic assistance. Michael Huseby, CEO and chairman, BNED, said, "Our top priority remains providing schools and students with solutions during this time of unprecedented disruption, while simultaneously protecting the health and safety of our employees and customers. As an organization, we are closely monitoring the continuing developments and following the guidance of the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and local health authorities. While we cannot predict how long this situation will last, BNED remains committed to actively supporting our students, faculty and the educational institutions we serve during this time. Given the economic uncertainty associated with the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, including the continued closures of educational institutions nationwide, we are limited in our ability to accurately predict what the negative financial impact to BNED will be in fiscal 2020, and therefore believe it is appropriate to withdraw financial guidance for fiscal 2020." BNED's Q4 is historically a lower revenue quarter for the company because it does not include the fall and spring back-to-school rush periods; nonetheless, due to the uncertainty regarding the duration and extent of the disruptions caused by COVID-19, BNED is withdrawing its FY20 outlook. The company does not intend to provide further updates to its fiscal year 2020 outlook unless deemed appropriate. | ||||
Craig-Hallum analyst Alex… Craig-Hallum analyst Alex Fuhrman downgraded Barnes & Noble Education to Hold from Buy with a price target of $2.50, down from $5. The analyst cited the cost of social distancing, including colleges transitioning to online classes. | ||||