The US may petition the WTO after China said it would cut rare earth exports. (Reuters)

Mark Hurd, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and current president of Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) will try to keep the content of a letter from the accuser which helped him lose his job confidential (Reuters)

Investors are still skeptical about the ongoing future of the retail industry despite good holiday sales (Reuters)

Video game companies see a surge in sales in 2011 as products move to tablets and wireless devices. (Reuters)

Now that Apple Inc (NASDAQ AAPL) has been sued over app privacy issues, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) may face the sale problem. (Reuters)

Bank M&A deals should pick up next year (Reuters)

Large companies like GM (NYSE: GM) and GE (NYSE: GE) are folding some of their operations into Chinese venture to help improve sales (WSJ)

The Case-Shiller Index showed that there is not an improvement in the housing market (WSJ)

Oil and gas exploration expenditures will rise next year in a sign large industry companies believe crude prices will stay high (WSJ)

The health of banks closed by the FDIC varies substantially (WSJ)

Fiber optics networks which can carry huge amounts of data have become more in demand (WSJ)

The sale of a unit of Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Nokia Siemens has been delayed by Chinese regulators (WSJ)

Sears (NYSE: SHLD) started a movie download business (WSJ)

Republicans will slow efforts to turn Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into private enterprises because it might hurt the housing market (WSJ)

Japan again said it would enter the currency market if the yen continues to rise (WSJ)

China complained to the WTO about imports of US livestock feed (WSJ)

Health insurers may run some state Medicaid plans (WSJ)

China ended a program to give tax breaks to buyers of small cars (WSJ)

Groupon may sell $950 million in preferred shares. The deal would value the company at $7.8 billion (WSJ)

China’s 360buy.com raised $500 million, some of which came from Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) (WSJ)

AIG’s (NYSE: AIG) shares have nearly doubled this year, an unexpected development (WSJ)

Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) will bid for store chain Centro (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago say credit card reward programs can pull people further into debt. (WSJ)

AllState (NYSE: ALL) sued CountryWide over a sale of toxic assets to the insurer (WSJ)

Wheat, cooper, and gold prices moved toward all-time highs (WSJ)

3D has struggled to get wide adoption from consumers (WSJ)

Problems with the private trading of Facebook shares may push an IPO (NYT)

The world’s largest credit default swaps market will not push for more regulation (NYT)

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) will start its own trading platform next year which could undermine profits of other Wall St. firms (FT)

The key to a recovery in the US is based on the simple issue of whether consumers will spend more than they will save (FT)

The EU area sovereign debt crisis has made it harder for Europe-based companies to raise money at low interest rates (FT)

The head of Bunge, a large commodities trading firm, said grain prices will continue to rise (FT)

Vietnam’s growth is now over 7% which could cause more inflation (Bloomberg)

The dollar moved toward a six week low (Bloomberg)

China car companies said an end to tax incentives for car buyers will not harm their sales (Bloomberg)

Ohio and New York will sue BP plc (NYSE: BP) over a drop in its share price due to the leak in the Gulf (Bloomberg)

A Brookings Institution study shows population growth in Asia could hurt the economies of small nations outside the region (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Fiscal March-2008 Guidance: revenues $3.2 to $3.5 Billion, up $100 million from prior guidance and net revenue excluding impact of deferrals $3.65 to $3.85 Billion (up $50 million from prior guidance). Non-GAAP EPS $0.90-$1.20, in line with prior guidance.  Unfortunately its GAAP EPS is still a loss, even if narrower: -$0.63 to -$0.10 instead of -$0.77 to -$0.23 prior.  First Call estimates for Fiscal march-2008 are $1.14 EPS and $3.7 Billion revenues, so the mid-point is under EPS targets and somewhat in-line to a tad under the mid-point on revenues.

Next quarter guidance: $465 to $570 million revenues, but $825 to $910 million excluding impact of change in deferred net revenue.  Non-GAAP EPS targeted at $0.10 to $0.20 outside of deferrals.  First Call pegs estimates at $0.33 EPS and $960 million revenues, so it looks like that is a shortfall.

The truth is that these are the throw-away quarters for video game companies.  The companies have slower sales in this quarter so the only issue at hand is each company’s outlook.  The most important issue to watch for all videogame producers in the next couple or three months is if the mega-hit releases of Halo 3 from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the new Grand Theft Auto release from Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO).  Halo 3 comes in late September and GTA comes in October as of now, and these two releases at the last coincidental calendar timing caused available gaming dollars to migrate away from all other producers for a period of 60 to 90 days as game players dwelled on those titles.  It looks like Halo 3 and GTA spending are going to exact a toll again against the other gamers.

Here is the ‘feel good ahead’ commentary part from Warren Jenson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer: "Looking ahead, we have a strong slate.  In the balance of the fiscal year, we plan to launch our full EA SPORTS lineup, Need for Speed Pro Street, MySims, Medal of Honor Airborne and ten new properties, including Army of Two, The Simpsons, SKATE, Boogie and Rock Band."

Shares closed down 1.1% at $48.10 in normal trading, and shares are down over 1% more in after-hours trading to about $47.50.  That is within spitting distance of the $46.14 and well under the $58.85 highs seen in the last 52-weeks.

Jon C. Ogg
August 1, 2007

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