When social game maker Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) reported third quarter results Thursday evening, the stock bounced nearly 14%, largely due to the tiny net loss of just $68,000. In the same quarter a year ago the company lost 52.7 million, so that’s all good.
The initial euphoria has cooled a little after a good night’s sleep, but shares posted a new 52-week high Friday morning and the share price is still up about 8%. Analysts, however, remain cool.
Barclays initiated coverage on the stock in early September with an Equal Weight.
Evercore Partners reaffirmed its Equal Weight rating and have $4 price target on the stock.
Baird’s analyst thinks that Zynga remains in “recovery mode” following a layoff of 520 employees and that mobile games could be a win for the company, especially in the “mid-core” space between simple games like FarmVille and games for hard-core gamers, like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.
Bloomberg cites a Piper Jaffray analyst who said, “With the exception of poker, Zynga has yet to publish a mobile game that can stay consistently popular over several months.” The company said in July that it no longer plans to seek a license to offer real-money poker in the U.S. Those plans could change, of course, if a federal law permitting real-money online gambling in all 50 states were ever enacted.
Zynga’s shares are up about 8% at $3.82 in mid-afternoon trading Friday, after posting a new 52-week high of $4.05. At its December 2011 initial public offering shares were priced at $11.
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