Funny how some people need to keep relearning the same lessons. Take the case of video game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) and the rest of the market it competes in. I still get emails from those saying either that the video game market has died (in favor of what, I don't know) or that digital downloading will crush GameStop.
Bollocks.
First, the video game business is cyclical and pretty much always has been. There's just an ebb and flow to new hardware and new hit titles, and that's the way it is. But throughout it all, gamers are still gamers. I mean, really, what's the alternative for a gamer? Read a book?
On the second front, I view the digital-download menace not much differently from the sturm und drang a few years back about how the Internet was going to kill all bricks-and-mortar retailers. Good retailers adapted to the Net, and GameStop will adapt to digital downloading if it ever becomes a really relevant distribution option.
Turning to this quarter, it looks as if GameStop is doing a fair job of biding its time before new titles juice the market again. Sales were up about 119% (inflated by the acquisition of Electronics Boutique), while comp-store sales were down 3.3%. Although used-game sales seemed a little soft relative to overall growth, new-game sales were above average.
It's easy to get gunned up about a sector when you come out of an industry convention like the recent E3. That said, it does look as though Nintendo might have a winner with the abysmally named Wii, and there should also be some popular titles from the likes of Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) to keep gamers away from the sun and social interaction.
GameStop doesn't really look all that cheap, but I find it hard to see how Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nintendo, and Sony (NYSE:SNE) will place consoles and how the game-makers will place games without GameSpot going along for the ride. What's more, once those new games come out, that should juice the high-margin used-game business, and that could make today's valuation look a little more reasonable in retrospect.
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Electronic Arts, Activision, and GameStop are all Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations, and Microsoft is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick. Take your favorite Foolish newsletter service for a free 30-day spin.
Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
