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STOCKS TO WATCH: Barnesandnoble.com, Expedia and Liquid Audio

2 min read

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most actively traded issues: Barnesandnoble.com, Expedia and Liquid Audio.

  • Barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN)

    The online bookseller could face some heavy selling Tuesday after it posted a wider-than-expected loss in its second quarter, losing $39.9 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $67.4 million.

    First Call Corp. consensus expected the online bookseller to lose 18 cents a share in the quarter.

    Its shares closed off 1/8 to 5 1/8.

    The $67.4 million in sales marks a 77 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $22 million, or 17 cents a share, on sales of $38.2 million.

    However, its sales actually declined compared to the first quarter when it lost $27.1 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $78.2 million.

    In the second quarter, Barnesandnoble.com added another 700,000 customers, bringing its total customer base to more than 5.5 million shoppers. Repeat orders accounted for 70 percent of all sales in the quarter.

    Company officials said it exited the quarter with $356 million in cash and short-term investments, enough to keep the company afloat for at least two more years.

  • Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE)

    Expedia should see heavy action Tuesday after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter, dropping $13 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $70 million.

    Analysts were predicting a loss of 47 cents a share in the quarter.

    The $70 million in sales marked a 164 percent from the year-ago quarter.

    Gross travel bookings in the fourth quarter increased to 124 percent year-over-year to $450 million. About 4.1 percent of people looking for travel fares booked through Expedia during the quarter, compared to 3.8 percent in the third quarter.

    Revenue from merchants grew 237 percent year-over-year and 25 percent from the third quarter, though commissions and fees from airline ticket sales generated less than 30 percent of Expedia's overall revenue.

  • Liquid Audio (Nasdaq: LQID)

    Liquid Audio figures to gain ground Tuesday after it easily topped analysts' estimates in its second quarter, losing $7.7 million, or 35 cents a share, on sales of $3.5 million.

    First Call Corp. consensus predicted it would lose 40 cents a share in the quarter.

    Ahead of the earnings report, its shares fell 7/16 to 9 1/4.

    In the year-ago quarter, Liquid Audio posted a loss of $6.1 million, or 29 cents a share, on sales of $745,000.

    In the quarter, the Redwood City, Calif. company said it provided software or services to 900 music and retail Web sites, up 20 percent from the first quarter, and that its technology had been used to encode 80,000 songs from 9,800 artists.

    Service sales accounted for $1.2 million of its total sales while business development and licensing sales chipped in $1.6 million and $612,000, respectively.