Take-Two Takes It on the Chin on Earnings

By Kim Khan

Investing.com – Videogame maker Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:) fell sharply Friday after tepid quarterly results added to consternation about the company losing a key member of the company.

Shares of Take-Two (NASDAQ:) plunged 10% in midday trading.

Take-Two (NASDAQ:) said after the bell Thursday it earned $1.63 per share in its fiscal third quarter, the all-important holiday period. Sales came in at $930.1 million.

Both missed expectations, with analysts predicting a profit of $1.73 per share and sales of $921.1 million, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

Looking ahead, Take-Two (NASDAQ:) predicted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 92 cents per share to $1.12 per share on sales of $635 million to $685 million. The earnings forecast was below the S&P Capital IQ consensus of $1.13 per share.

Just two day ago the company announced that Dan Houser, one of the founder of Rockstar Games, which created the best-selling game franchises “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption”, was leaving Take-Two (NASDAQ:).

That brought investor angst “to a fever pitch,” according to Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger, who took his price target on the stock down to $137 from $151 per share.

Before today’s dive, shares were about flat in the last six months.

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