Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows To Hit Bookstores July 21, 2007

Posted on February 1, 2007

Scholastic has announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will go on sale on July 21, 2007. The retail price is a bit of a shocker: it's retailing for $34.99. Amazon.com is currently offering a pre-order guaranteed price of $18.89, but who knows how long that will last. You can pre-order the book from Amazon at the cheaper price here.

The final cover art hasn't been finished yet, but that's certainly not going to affect pre-sales. Business Week has already analyzed how the sales will affect Scholastic's stock.

Citigroup analyst William Bird in a client note kept a "Hold" rating on shares of Scholastic, saying the stock already prices in much of the Harry Potter momentum. He has a $36 target price on shares. He anticipates the book will generate $210 million in sales in 2008, a contribution of as much as 62 cents per share to earnings.
The analyst noted that Scholastic's financial performance has been volatile, and has been significantly influenced by the success of Harry Potter book sales. Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc. immediately began advertising the book on their Web sites, with 40 percent discounts for pre-ordering. The book is anticipated to run to about 600 pages, and has a suggested cover price of $34.99. Amazon is offering the title at $18.99.

Of course, most consumers are more interested in whether or not Harry lives to see the end of the seventh and final book than in the stock price of Scholastic. In the past few years, there have been many new children's fantasy series launched, but none so far have generated the hysteria that the Potter books have. So, what will Jo Rowling do when Harry Potter's story is finished? She has said that the series is truly finished, but we hope she changes her mind.