Posts for Ticker ‘MWY’

Video Game Earnings Trifecta: EA, THQ, Midway (ERTS, THQI, MWY)

After today’s close, we’ll see earnings out of three video game publishers.  Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI), and Midway Games (NYSE:MWY) all report today.  The key to remember here is that calendar Q3 is not generally as dead as calendar Q2 for video game makers, but that calendar Q4 guidance is perhaps the most important out there.

Electronic Arts (ERTS) is still the kahuna of the video game group.  Analysts are looking for $0.20 EPS on $896 million revenues, and next quarter $0.94 EPS on $1.61 Billion in revenues.  Fiscal March-2008 estimates are $1.15 EPS and $3.77 Billion in revenues.  EA sort of lucked out after the delay of the new Grand Theft Auto game earlier this year, particularly since its near simultaneous launch of Halo 3 would have sucked up much of the available gaming spending money and gaming time.  One key issue will be what the company telegraphs out of the coming BioWare acquisition.  With the acquisition and the new launched of Hellgate:London, The Simpsons, Command & Conquer, and The Orange Box, EA is getting farther and farther away from its old quasi-dependence upon Madden Football and The Sims franchise.

THQ Inc. (THQI) is expected to post -$0.02 EPS and $229.4 million in revenues, but next quarter estimates are $0.70 EPS and $491.1 million in revenues.  Fiscal March-2008 estimates are $0.85 EPS and $1.07 Billion revenues.  The company’s recent guidance already muted expectations.

Midway Games (MWY) is the runt of the group, although it’s always interesting to see how the Sumner Redstone game empire is chugging along through what has been perpetual losses in the past and ahead.  Analysts are looking for -$0.33 EPS on revenues of $39.2 million.  Shares are down 2% at $3.04 today, and the 52-week trading range is $2.96 to $9.18.  Its market cap is only $277 million.

Activision (ATVI) is set to report next week.

Jon C. Ogg
November 1, 2007

Posted on: November 1, 2007 – 9:43 am in Earnings, Video Games, , ,

Nintendo’s Next Wii Strategy for Investors

Stock Tickers: NTDOY, GME, MSFT, SNE, ERTS, ATVI, THQI, MWY, TTWO

It’s no secret that Nintendo (NTDOY) has kicked some major, well you know what, with the strong sales of its two gaming systems: The Wii and the handheld portable DS system, plus all of the game titles.  When you look at a stock rather than the products, you may ask yourself "What can they do to keep their momentum rolling?".  After all, the stock in the US alone has more than doubled.  What got it here?

The sales got it where it is and NPD’s data was released Thursday showing that Nintendo took the top two spots in hardware, accounting for more than 760,000 units sold.  The Wii sold 338,000 units, compared to 155,000 Xbox 360 units from Microsoft (MSFT) and only 82,000 PS3 units from Sony (SNE).  Nintendo also took four of the top five game titles.  Total video game sales between software and hardware showed a 49% gain in May.  That is up from April’s 20% gain, both numbers being year over year.  These NPD numbers helped GameStop (GME) rally 5% on Friday.  Some video game title makers rose as well on the NPD data, even though some may actually have lost sales because of strong Wii sales: Electronic Arts (ERTS) +2.9%, THQ Interactive (THQI) rose 1.1%; Negative on the day: Activision (ATVI) saw a -0.9% drop and take-Two (TTWO) saw a 1.5% drop; Midway Games -0.5%.  Sony is considering a price cut to the PS3 to bump its market share.

Nintendo is a public company, but only ‘barely’ if you are a US investor.  Nintendo Co. LTD does have ADR’s, but the shares trade on the perpetually hated Pink Sheets under the ticker "NTDOY."  Go ask anyone that is Not in the financial markets for a living that invests in and trades stocks "Have you ever bought a pink sheet stock?".  There is probably a 90% chance they will not have, and there is probably a 50% chance they won’t even know what it means.  If they do, they probably will only get a 1-day old quote for the stock.

Video games are now bigger than movies as far as entertainment money is spent and it isn’t just teenagers.  Your’s truly is an Xbox 360 owner.  Most of the big video gaming companies are public.  The stock trades under the ticker "7974" on the Osaka Stock Exchange in Japan.  Shares are up 117% over the last year.   People would like to be able to invest in this but they don’t know how.  Too many US investors don’t even have the ability to buy shares on a foreign market.  Depending on what service you use, Nintendo has a $48 Billion market cap.

Nintendo might win over more investors if they would sell $1 Billion in ADR shares on either NASDAQ, NYSE, or AMEX.  If nothing else, the company would at least be able to make it possible for US investors to trade the stock.  This has been an ongoing thought and it has been puzzling for years.  The company might claim it doesn’t want the US regulation, but the truth is that most of the regulation in the US out of the SEC pertains to US-domiciled companies.  Sure, maybe once the NYSE or NASDAQ create their global kiretsu’s of an exchange hodge-podge then investors will have an easier time investing in Nintendo if they want to.  Would this guarantee a higher stock price? No, of course it wouldn’t guarantee that.  But it would make the stock much more liquid and make the company more open to investors.  Until then………..

Jon C. Ogg
June 15, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: June 15, 2007 – 4:42 pm in Video Games, , , , , , , , ,

Video Gamers Short Interest May 2007

The video game sector was a bit weird this month as far as short selling goes.  There was no clear direction at all, so there is no real robust call here.  The one point of interest is the increase seen in the short interest of Electronic Arts (ERTS).  The stock is in the middle of its 52-week trading range, but the upcoming releases of Halo 3 and the new Grand Theft Auto are going to be a risk even if the company does have its new NFL franchise coming ahead of those dates.  Stay tuned, or keep playing games.

Stock (Ticker)                        MAY          APRIL    Change
GameStop (GME)          3.72M     4.96M      -24.8%
Electronic Arts (ERTS) 10.28M    9.45M       8.7%
Activision (ATVI)             17.89M    22.44M    -20%
Take-Two (TTWO)         27.33M    28.16M    -3%
THQ Interactive (THQI)  6.28M      5.86M       7.1%
Midway Games (MWY)  3.00M      2.89M       3.8%

Jon C. Ogg
May 25, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 25, 2007 – 3:49 pm in Video Games, , , , , ,