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B&N's financials are pretty close to hopeless by the normal way one measures a business's potential. It dropped giving shareholders a dividend last year; it was forced to sell 20% new stock to a potential takeover candidate to stay afloat; its chief competitor (Borders) collapsed and literally disappeared during the period (closed mid-Aug, financial reporting through end Oct); it can't seem to build decent retail margins on its main business; and its new sideline, the Nook, is costing it barrels of cash.
But then, this company is not necessarily valued on normal metrics.
The Nook is a bright light to be sure: but it's very hard to replace the billions in revenue the company currently gets from the bricks and mortar stores. It's still possible Liberty will step up and buy them whole (instead of just buying fresh shares).
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