I hope Take-Two will sink even lower in financial losses
Dec 20th, 2007 by admin
Submitted by Gaming Briefs and Nostalgia Bits
According to this article, Take-Two’s shown a lukewarm performance moneywise:
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc said on Tuesday it cut its quarterly net loss in half, but the videogame publisher’s outlook fell short of Wall Street expectations, and its shares fell 4 percent.
While Take-Two’s first-quarter forecast disappointed some investors, the company held firm on its full-year profit outlook in anticipation of a strong launch of “Grand Theft Auto 4,” the next installment in its wildly popular criminal action series.
OH NO! Please, not more of that awful series of games!
“They are saying that near-term, they are going to have a drag because of a light release schedule,” said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, who was impressed with Take-Two’s performance in the fourth quarter.
“This is a ‘GTA’ trade and people will buy into it ahead of ‘GTA,”‘ said Hickey, who has a $27 price target on the stock. “Grand Theft Auto 4″ is scheduled for launch in Take-Two’s fiscal second quarter, which runs February through April.
For the three months ended October 31, Take-Two was boosted by robust sales of the critically acclaimed game “BioShock” for Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 and the family-oriented title “Carnival Games” for Nintendo Co Ltd’s popular Wii system.
Take-Two’s quarterly net loss narrowed to $7.1 million, or 10 cents per share, from $14 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier, while revenue rose nearly 10 percent to $292.6 million.
Excluding special items, Take-Two posted a profit of 5 cents per share, beating the average forecast of a loss of 7 cents per share on Reuters Estimates.
Take-Two also forecast a loss, excluding special items, of between 50 and 60 cents per share for its first quarter, on revenue of between $175 million and $225 million.
That was well below the average Wall Street forecast of a loss of 8 cents per share on revenue of nearly $290 million.
“In Q1 we have a very light release schedule … so I view Q1 as a time to prepare for the next nine months,” Chief Executive Ben Feder told a conference call.
The company reiterated a fiscal 2008 forecast it gave in September for a profit, excluding items, of $1.30 to $1.50 per share.
Gross profit margin would be 25 percent in the first quarter, rising to 35 percent for all of fiscal 2008, it said.
“We expect gross margin to trend back up in Q2 with the release of ‘Grand Theft Auto 4,”‘ interim Chief Financial Officer Lainie Goldstein told a conference call.
Shares of Take-Two fell 4 percent to $17.31 in extended trading after the earnings release. The stock has risen 1.5 percent over the past year, compared with a 13 percent rise in the shares of industry leader, Electronic Arts Inc.
Please, let them fall even farther still! That slimy company deserves every stumble they get! Nobody with common sense should buy the fourth GTA game, that’s for sure!
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