GameStop Holiday Sales Surge; Experts Doubt Trend Will Last
By Shawn on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 12:37 PM PST In Computer, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, World of Warcraft
Whether you think of GameStop as Gaming Nirvana or the Evil Empire, the business was booming this holiday. GameStop experienced a surge of sales that has the company raising its quarterly earnings estimate. However despite the money rolling in from games like Guitar Hero, GameStop shares fell over 6% as analysts predict the trend won’t last.
“First of all, the numbers were lights out,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners Inc. “But the concern is that their same-store sales guidance was raised to 15.5 percent to 16.5 percent, which is measurably below the 20 percent they just produced for the holiday period.”
He added: “The difference last year was ‘World of Warcraft,’ which sold 850,000 plus units in January and that creates a difficult comparison for them this year.”
I tend to wonder if these experts are underestimating the continued appeal of World of Warcraft. With the release of the Wrath of the Lich King imminent, I wouldn’t count on a mediocre showing for WoW this year. If that’s what they’re basing there projections for GameStop on, they might want to reconsider.
via Reuters
