Electronics Boutique Earnings Fall

Officials from Electronics Boutique have announced that first quarter profits for the company have slipped, despite opening 104 new stores in the same quarter. For the quarter ended May 1, the company earned $3 million, or 12 cents a share, on a record revenue of $372.4 million. In the same period last year, it earned $3.2 million, or 12 cents a share, on revenue of $303.5 million. During this period game software sales jumped 28% and total hardware sales rose 19%. Same store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, fell 2.5%, which the company insists is within expectations. Confident that recent hardware price drops will boost sales, the company has raised its fiscal 2005 forecast to $1.90 to $2 a share, based on an average share count of 24.5 million. The jump in the per share estimate is due solely to the change in the company's share base, which was affected by the recent repurchase of 1.2 million shares. Source: AP Wire