Why Zynga Popped 8% Today

By Evan Niu, CFA and Erin Kennedy – Mar 4, 2014 at 8:15PM

NASDAQ: ZNGA

Zynga

Zynga jumped today to tap fresh 52-week highs. Here are the key reasons behind the social gamer's climb.

Shares of Zynga (ZNGA) hit a new 52-week high today, after CEO Don Mattrick spoke at a Morgan Stanley conference discussing mobile plans, as well as the idea of the company's entrance into real-money gambling. The company also stated yesterday that it would be rebooting three of its most important franchises, FarmVille, Zynga Poker and Words With Friends.

In this video from Tuesday's Tech Teardown, host Erin Kennedy and Motley Fool tech and telecom bureau chief Evan Niu discuss several of the strategic moves Zynga is making at the moment as it continues to focus on a turnaround. Evan points to Zynga's struggles to transition from its early success on the Facebook platform over to mobile, and how other gaming companies with the "freemium" business model may be eclipsing Zynga with better execution on mobile, and leaving the company behind.

Erin Kennedy has no position in any stocks mentioned. Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.