Scholastic Shares Tumble on Disappointing Quarterly Earnings

Children’s publishing leader Scholastic reported first-quarter 2026 financial results that fell significantly below market expectations, triggering a sharp decline in its share price. Both revenue and per-share losses substantially missed analyst forecasts, with management pointing to constrained education budgets across U.S. schools as the primary factor.

While the company’s core trade publishing division demonstrated resilience with a 4% revenue increase—driven by an 18% surge in book fair activity—this positive performance was overshadowed by severe weakness in the education segment. The Education Solutions unit experienced a dramatic 28% revenue decline, which Scholastic attributes to heightened uncertainty surrounding school and district funding that has negatively impacted spending on supplemental educational materials.

Despite the challenging start to the fiscal year, Scholastic’s leadership reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance. CEO... Read more...