The company that I have chosen to highlight is Barnes & Noble, a popular chain of booksellers which carries a vast variety of latest releases and reprinted classics, which has recently segmented off into strong educational and music-based areas of revenue, as well. As has been pointed out in the body of the discussion question's description, while taking on the role of an investor, I'd be looking into Barnes & Noble's price/earnings ratio (P/E), dividend payout, dividend yield, book value, and earnings per share (EPS). As has become a trend based on my previous discussion pieces, I will be using Barnes & Noble's entry into the NASDAQ database as a source of information to formulate my answer, considering its general ease of use while offering direct access to all of the required information, as detailed above. 1. P/E ratio = 37.20 2. Dividend payout ratio = 47.25% 3. Dividend yield = 5.79% 4. Book value = 8.235(m) 5. EPS = $1,217(m) On the overall, by these numbers and by observing Barnes & Noble as an overall entity, it seems like they yield very little in regards to great returns. Furthermore, later projections show their P/E ratio dropping by 10 - 15 per year for each year over the next three years. Despite my personal affinity for the company, it seems as though Barnes & Noble is going to be a corporation which will have to consistently downsize itself in order to reflect the modern times, as physical, tangible printed books become something of a past commodity and more people take to electronic devices to get in their reading, for all intents and purposes. For these reasons, as are reflected in the numbers stated above and in their future projections, I would not find Barnes & Noble to be worth my investment.

What are your thoughts on the financial statement information for this publicaly traded company?