One Day Till Harry Potter

My preordered Harry Potter book arrives tomorrow. The one I ordered back in January. I can't wait to crack it open. I wonder if my wrist will hurt if I hold that big fat book on the treadmill?

Take a look at this: Harry Potter and the Vanishing Brand Magic:

"In fiscal 2001, the Potter peak for Scholastic, sales from the series reached $200 million, or 10% of annual revenue and 30% of Scholastic's earnings.

"But since then, the company has missed earnings, its margins narrowed and stock got whacked. Management had to get a grip on reality and start the publisher chugging again. "Harry Potter is a decreasingly important part of the story," says Peter Appert, analyst with Goldman Sachs Group (nyse: GS - news - people ). "I look at it as a windfall from the cash flow and earnings standpoints, something that's not sustainable on an ongoing basis. The Harry Potter franchise doesn't go away, but it's past its peak from the revenue and earnings perspective.

"...So despite all the media hoopla and midnight release parties, Scholastic is smartly trying to look beyond young Mr. Potter's magic. "Of course [the brand] means a lot to us in terms of just raising the visibility of the company, but it's just one piece of what we do," says Good.

"...Appert predicts that for fiscal 2005, Harry Potter will represent just 1% of revenue and 2% of earnings. "You don't ignore the Harry Potter earnings," he says. "It's real cash flow. But you want to value the company on some sort of normalized basis of profitability."

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Doesn't this look like fun? NY Times Announces Great Read In the Park.