NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Benchmark Journal.

These were some of the biggest dividend stock performers on the upside and the downside in today's stock market action.

Shares of Barnes & Noble (BKS) are up over 10% so far today, following disclosure that private equity firm Yucaipa Cos, controlled by billionaire Ron Burkle, acquired an 8.3 percent stake in bookseller Barnes & Noble. Yucaipa funds said it had bought about 4.58 million shares since November 24 for about $67.3 million, net of commissions, [...]

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Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Bad news

Massive bookselling chain Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) reported today that holiday sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 3 fell to $868.8 million, down 11.7% from a year ago. Same-store sales for the holiday season plunged 14.4%. The retailer said that holiday sales started off slow, but accelerated as the season continued.

Additionally, the bookseller said that CEO George Jones will be replaced by private equity executive Ron Marshall. The new chief executive has previously helmed turnarounds at food distributor Nash Finch Co. and supermarket chain Pathmark Stores Inc. Borders stated that the new appointment will help to "more aggressively drive a turnaround of the company within today's challenging economy."

Borders Group is also getting a new chief financial officer; Mark Bierley will be internally promoted to the position, replacing Ed Wilhelm.

BGP could definitely benefit from Marshall's turnaround prowess. The stock has endured a stomach-churning 52-week plunge of 95.2%, and is currently trading below 50 cents per share. By contrast, competitor Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) surged more than 9% today after scoring an upgrade from Sell to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

Borders Group confesses to plunging holiday sales, names new CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Management

Ronald W. Burkle, the grocery magnate with a net worth estimated at more than $3 billion, has acquired an 8.3% stake in Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) through his Yucaipa American Funds, LLC investment vehicle.

The 13-D contained nothing especially interesting -- just the usual boilerplate: The shares were acquired for investment purposes, but also reserved the right to talk to other investors or management about ways to maximize value. The 13-D added that the shares were acquired because the investors believed they "were undervalued by the market at the time they were acquired."

The Wall Street Journal notes (subscription required) that while the company has seen its performance battered by economic woes, it has a strong balance sheet and competent management. If Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) collapses, Barnes & Noble could be the most direct beneficiary. The deathwatch is one, with shares of Borders trading around 50 cents per pop.

Given the high regard that the company's management is held in, this investment seems unlikely to turn into a true activist situation: So while Burkle's investment is a strong vote of confidence from a highly respected mogul, it's not likely to be much of a catalyst for anything.

Barnes & Noble gets a 13-D from Ronald Burkle originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barnes & Noble (BKS) said Ron Burkle's equity firm has acquired an 8.3% stake. It rose 2.1% to 15.32.

Technology has taken us so far now, that you don’t even have to go to a bookstore to read anymore. Forget waiting in lines or paying $15.00 for a single novel when you can download them to your computer from the Internet or to special portable devices designed especially for that purpose. And now you can download them onto your iPhone. This latest advancement might be innovative, but let me tell you a few reasons why you shouldn’t give up on bookstores such as Barnes&Noble (NYSE: BKS) and Borders (NYSE: BGP) just yet… at least not because of the iPhone threat: Practical Reasons Why The Hard Copy Isn’t Going Anywhere Reason #1)  The print is too small. Sure, you can read your favorite Steven[More...]

Filed under: Books

Shares of Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) are down 26% to 39 cents per share today after the company announced an agreement to "extend the expiration date of the previously announced Borders option to "put" its U.K.-based Paperchase gifts and stationery business to Pershing Square for $65 million, subject to certain conditions."

The company also extended the deadline for its repayment of a $42.5 million loan made to to the company by Pershing Square, a hedge fund run by superstar value investor William Ackman.

Last month Borders abandoned its efforts to sell itself but with its balance sheet presenting a serious problem in the face of tanking sales, investors are incredibly skeptical about the company's future. The company's market cap of less than $25 million indicates that many investors believe that the company is a candidate for bankruptcy court.

While the economic smackdown certainly isn't Borders' fault, the company has made an enormous number of strategic blunders, starting with investing millions of dollars in an e-commerce site that will never be a serious threat to larger rivals.

Borders Group (BGP) tanks after deadline extension on Ackman deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Borders Group, Inc.  (Public, NYSE:BGP) shares took a huge hit on Thursday, ending the day down 28% at $5.07 a share.  The news of Borders looking at "future strategies", thus selling the company made investors bail like no tomorrow.  Shareholders couldn't sell shares fast enough, 26.8 million shares were traded on Thursday, compared the usual volume of 1.44 million BGP shares.  So now what? Follow the Masters into the dumpster.

Borders fourth-quarter results that were delayed for one day,reported net income of $64.7 million, or $1.10 a share, compared with a loss of $73.6 million, or $1.22, in the same period last year. Revenue fell 2 percent to $1.35 billion for the quarter ended Feb. 2. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profits of $1.42 per share on sales of $1.37 billion.

Borders has until Jan. 15 to require Pershing Square to pay $125 million for its international business. But the company said it must pursue the sale of those operations elsewhere before any deal with Pershing.

Borders is now considering options including the sale of the company or certain divisions, and that it had lined up $42.5 million in financing to help it keep running through the year.

In this tough economy, Borders is going to have a hard time staying in business when you go online and buy books at Amazon.com (AMZN), eBay.com (EBAY), or stroll into a better bookstore like Barnes & Noble, Inc.  (Public, NYSE:BKS).

For those of you thinking you can cash in on Borders dividend and wait for a potential sale, hoping shares may jump - think again.   Borders has suspended its quarterly dividend and all that bad news sent shares down 44% at one point.

Borders is a sitting duck now, with the recession in full swing, their shares are going to keep falling.  Borders isn't a great bookstore, they're no better than Costco's (COST) table of random books for sale pilled all over the place.  There's nothing special about strolling into a Borders, so why would book lovers keep heading to Borders? 

They won't.

The Masters expect the powers that be to push Borders shares to a new 52-week low next week. Depending how low they get, there may be a bounce opportunity, but for now, just watch the bonfire of books go up in flames.

Andrea Kramer takes a look at news on the Street before the market open.

By Todd Sullivan from ValuePlays - Anytime the largest shareholder of a company goes on a buying spree like Barnes and Noble's (NYSE:BKS) Leonard Riggio did recently, I have to look closer.

Riggio, who bought 100,000 shares both in August and September, bought an additional $11.3 (approximately 420,000 shares) million dollars worth in October. This bring his total stake in the company to 24%. Much like Sear Holding's (SHLD) Eddie Lampert's buying spree this summer, when people intimately involved in the company cannot seem to buy enough shares, you have to be interested.

If you recall Barnes and Noble in August predicted a more optimistic outlook than was previously thought and about this time Riggio began his buying spree. On has to infer from this that the future for BKS may be even rosier that predicted in August. For those hoping for a Barnes and Noble and Borders (BGP) merger, this news ought to put a damper on those expectations. Were a merger or other collaboration to be announced anytime in the near future, Riggio's purchases was be reduced to simple insider trading ahead of the announcement. That does not mean it will not happen, just that it will not happen anytime soon.

I am going to look closer here over the weekend and get back next week..... I am very intrigued though..

Todd Sullivan, Contributor to theStockMasters.com and ValuePlays Founder

Todd and the Guys at theStockMasters feature their official stocks picks at WallStNewsletters.com , get all their newsletters plus 4 more for only $125 a year .

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Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier Interview Josh Parker, President of Gargoyle Asset Management

Jocelynn Drake takes a look back at the events and happenings around the market today.