Barnes & Noble Rated “Strong Sell”

Standard & Poor’s rated Barnes & Noble stock as “strong sell,” downgrading the bookseller from a previous rating of “hold.”

The credit rating company noted Barnes & Noble’s lagging holiday sales figures, predicting that book sales would decline more dramatically in coming years. As GalleyCat reported, S & P recently upgraded Amazon.com’s rating to “investment grade.”

Here’s more from the Barnes & Noble report: “While the holiday season was very challenging due to macro pressures, we expect sales to weaken even further in fiscal year 2010 (January) … We are also concerned by the long-term trend of declining adult readership levels.” (Via Publishers Marketplace)

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