Dueling Fools: Electronic Arts Bear Rebuttal (EA)

Dueling Fools: Electronic Arts Bear Rebuttal

Well, OK. I stand corrected. Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS ) is more than a one-hit wonder. But mine isn't the only gaffe in this debate. Quoting Rick's bull argument:

Paying nearly 30 times next year's profitability may seem expensive, but EA is worth it. It's growing its earnings at an increasingly fast pace these days. (Emphasis mine.)

Um, no:

Normalized	TTM	FY 2007	FY 2006	FY 2005	FY 2004
Year-over-year growth	(77.1%)	(63.1%)	(42.8%)	(8.2%)	45.8%

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

And the top line isn't much better:

Revenue	TTM	FY 2007	FY 2006	FY 2005	FY 2004
Year-over-year growth	2.5%	4.7%	(5.7%)	5.8%	19.1%

Source: Capital IQ.

As members of the Rule Breakers research team, Rick and I are used to paying 30 times earnings (or more) for fast movers. Massive growth is quite often worth it. With EA, all you have is the promise of massive growth -- a promise it has yet to keep.

Spitting into a tailwind may be a bad idea, but so is spitting on your portfolio. Save your sore thumbs for a stock that's cheap enough to deserve your dollars.

Check out the other arguments in this Duel, and then vote for a winner.

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Fool contributor Tim Beyers didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Find Tim's portfolio here and his latest blog commentary here. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy is still huge at thumb war.

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