Borders shares fall with 3Q report on horizon

Shares of Borders Group Inc. plunged Friday after its top competitor reported disappointing third-quarter results, setting a dark stage for Borders to report its results next week.

Shares of Borders fell 26 cents, or 19 percent, to $1.11 Friday. Earlier in trading shares reached 72 cents, their lowest point ever.

Booksellers have been struggling more recently as consumers limit their spending on discretionary items such as books and music. They also face increased competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart and Target and online sellers such as Amazon.com.

Although Borders has been in a turnaround, it has been unable to find a buyer for the bulk of its business.

And its larger competitor Barnes & Noble reported a larger-than-anticipated loss Thursday, which doesn't bode well for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders. The company is expected to report its third-quarter results Tuesday after the market closes.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Borders to post a loss of 50 cents per share, on average, on revenue of $726.5 million. That compares with a loss of $161.1 million, or $2.74 per share, on revenue of $813.6 million in the year-ago quarter. The loss from continuing operations was 66 cents per share.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research reiterated its "Hold" recommendation on Borders but widened its per-share loss estimated to 60 cents from 45 cents, based on drops in traffic and increased promotion activity that could hurt margins.

S&P analyst Michael Souers said the trend is likely to continue and lowered his profit estimates for fiscal 2009 and 2010 and cut his target price to $1 from $7.