Guitar Hero, Pokemon Push GameStop Q2 Sales To $1.33 Billion

Retailer GameStop has announced its latest financial results, showing what the company says is record second quarter results with sales up nearly 40 percent to $1.33 billion, thanks to Guitar Hero II and Pokemon, and profits of $21.8 million. GameStop's profits were up 56 percent over the second quarter of 2006, while sales rose 38.9 percent over last year's Q2 sales of $963.3 million. Comparable store sales were put at a 29.1 percent increase, beating the company's guidance of 16-18 percent. Though the company traditionally relies heavily on sales of used games, GameStop said that during the quarter, sales of new software rose 49 percent, while new hardware 'soared' up 87 percent. Top sellers for the quarter included Guitar Hero II, NCAA Football '08, Mario Party 8, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, and Forza Motorsport 2. Because of the results, GameStop has raised its full year guidance, with sales now expected to rise between 20 and 22 percent and comparable stores sales up 15 to 17 percent. For its third quarter, the company forecasts comparable store sales to rise 30 to 32 percent. Said company chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine, “GameStop’s outstanding second quarter was fueled by continued consumer demand for all the prevalent hardware platforms and the compelling games released during the quarter. It is apparent that the growing base of gaming consumers is well served by GameStop’s new and used model, our increasing number of convenient locations and outstanding customer service provided by our store ‘gamers’." He added, "Our second quarter performance was very broad-based, with the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe all exceeding expectations. New store growth, and more importantly, new store performance worldwide, continues to be impressive. During this quarter, we opened 150 new stores and now operate 4,954 stores in 16 countries. GameStop surpassed the 1,000 store count internationally and we are well on our way to achieving our forecast of opening between 500 and 550 new stores during the year."