Much like its rivals Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) and Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI), troubled video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO) posted a similarly weak holiday quarter after Tuesday's bell.
Take-Two saw first-quarter revenues almost cut in half, falling to $265 million from $502.5 million in last year's quarter. In addition to weaker industry software sales and lower retail pricing during the industry transition to the next-generation consoles, the drop in revenue also reflects the fact that last year's quarter included the smash hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 2, which accounted for 57% of revenues that quarter. Incidentally, the company said that Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the Sony PSP handheld made up 20% of first-quarter revenues. That $265 million revenue figure did come in ahead of the $237.15 million analyst estimate.
The company also showed a net loss of $29.1 million, or $0.41 per share -- including stock option expense -- compared to a profit of $55.2 million, or $0.79 per share, in last year's quarter. Like EA and Activision, that loss was well short of the analyst estimate calling for a loss of $0.11 per share.
I guess it's still fair to say that, despite its best efforts, Take-Two is still a bit of a one-trick pony -- not that the GTA franchise is such a bad trick to have. The company did claim that its NBA 2K6 for the next-generation Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 has outsold EA's NBA Live 06, however. Take-Two also has a couple other decent franchises in Max Payne and the Midnight Club racing series.
The stock has been beaten down almost to a three-year low, and, in fact, at around $15, is trading at half of its 52-week high. And like its rivals EA and Activision, I think Take-Two's stock has probably been beaten down too far. My preference here as an investor lies with both EA and Activision, because I think both are safer bets. That said, if you can look beyond the current fiscal year, I think you'll find some value here in Take-Two Interactive at $15 per share, or about 15 times fiscal 2007 earnings.
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Fool contributor Jeff Hwang owns shares of Electronic Arts and Activision. The Motley Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.
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