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.

Price competition has been so intense over the years that many retailers have acknowledged they don't make money on the series, depending instead on customers buying other books along with Potter. Shares of Scholastic fell 8 cents to $35.27, while Amazon rose 81 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $38.48, both on the Nasdaq. Barnes & Noble added $1.01, or 2.6 percent, to $39.94, while Borders added 28 cents to $21.26.