Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE: BNED) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.96), $0.18 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.78). Revenue for the quarter came in at $204 million versus the consensus estimate of $220.53 million.

Financial highlights for the first quarter 2021:

• Consolidated first quarter sales of $204.0 million decreased 36.2%, as compared to the prior year period.
• Consolidated first quarter GAAP net loss of $(46.7) million, compared to a GAAP net loss of $(32.2) million in the prior year period. Consolidated first quarter non-GAAP Adjusted Earnings of $(41.7) million, compared to non-GAAP Adjusted Earnings of $(30.1) million in the prior year period.
• Consolidated first quarter non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $(38.0) million, compared to non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $(25.1) million in the prior year period.

Operational highlights for the first quarter 2021:

• Bartleby® subscribers for the quarter tripled as compared to the prior year, with revenue increasing 100%. Peak spring traffic increased over 10x year-over-year and almost 3x versus peak fall traffic, demonstrating strong student demand for the bartleby ecosystem.
• Expanded its existing strategic partnership with VitalSource® to provide students with increased access to additional learning opportunities through a unique bundle of its bartleby homework help services, bartleby learn™ and bartleby write™. The VitalSource direct-to-student channel will now offer students unique access to the bartleby study bundle™ with the purchase of a qualifying VitalSource eBook.
• Continued roll-out of the Company’s next generation eCommerce platform; expected further roll-out throughout fiscal year 2021 to grow high-margin general merchandise sales.
• Online sales of general merchandise nearly doubled over last year and accounted for 55% of total general merchandise sales, as compared to 9% a year ago.
• BNC First Day® year-over-year revenue increased 156%, benefitting from the accelerated move to digital courseware.
• Increased adoption of BNC First Day Complete, with twelve campus partners utilizing the complete access model in the Fall Term 2020, increasing 3x over last year, with more schools expected to transition to First Day Complete in Spring Term 2021.
• Wholesale revenues increased 11%, benefiting from the shift to the CSS model and lower returns and allowances due to sales mix.
• Supported campus partners in navigating the start of the ongoing fall term, implementing additional safety measures in stores to protect employees and customers and launching new programs such as curbside pickup to enhance the shopping experience.

“As our campus partners continue to navigate the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the investments we have made in each of our businesses have enabled us to provide valuable solutions to our campus partners during a very challenging time. While our first quarter performance was significantly impacted by COVID-19 related campus store closures, the strategic investments we have made to transform BNED’s platforms and offerings to digital, enabled us to pivot quickly and offer flexible solutions to our campus partners. Increased and immediate demand for these solutions resulted in growth in our BNC Virtual, MBS Wholesale and DSS businesses,” said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, BNED. “In particular, with the increased emphasis on digital learning this summer, we saw strong growth in the demand for our bartleby self-study offerings, which experienced increases in subscribers, revenue and traffic. We also leveraged our custom store solutions, virtual bookstore and digital offerings to provide course materials to students utilizing remote learning. This was all made possible by the strategy we are executing, including the related investments we’ve made during the past three years to support our digital growth initiatives. Going forward, and in light of the current environment, we will continue to prudently allocate our capital to maintain the momentum of our growth initiatives, while simultaneously managing our liquidity carefully during this very fluid period.”

“As students begin their fall term, we are exploring new ways to expand distribution of the bartleby ecosystem outside the BNED footprint, as we have done with our recent VitalSource partnership, to ensure all students have access to the on-demand learning support they will need in the upcoming semester,” Mr. Huseby continued. “We have worked closely with our campus partners over the past few months as they have had to make many difficult, yet necessary decisions regarding their campus reopening plans. Whether they bring students back to campus, implement remote learning or a hybrid model, as a result of the investments we have made, we have never been better positioned to serve them through our stores, eCommerce and digital offerings.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) click here.