Updating Barnes & Noble, Cintas Corp, and Adobe Systems Inc.

Article Excerpt

BARNES & NOBLE INC. $39 (New York symbol BKS) reported that same-store sales at its main Barnes & Noble chain fell 0.1% in the nine week period ended December 30, 2006. However, online sales rose 2.7%. Spending on new promotions will probably weigh on earnings, but sales should pick up later this year with the release of the next Harry Potter book. Buy. CINTAS CORP. $42 (NASDAQ symbol CTAS) has raised its annual dividend each year since becoming a public company in 1983. The new rate of $0.39 a share, up 11.4% from the old rate of $0.35, yields 0.9%. Buy. ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $40 (NASDAQ symbol ADBE) earned $0.33 a share before one-time items in its fourth fiscal quarter ended December 1, 2006, up 10% from $0.30 a year earlier. Revenue grew 33.7%, to $682.2 million from $510.4 million. Adobe spends 21% of its revenue on research, so it’s more profitable than it seems. However, the company faces growing competition from…