Electronics Boutique Revises Earnings Upwards

Officials from major U.S. game retailer Electronics Boutique have said they expect third quarter results for the company will exceed previous estimates. Third quarter revenues are now expected to be between $445 and $447 million, compared to just $324.7 million at the same time last year. Comparable store sales are expected to increase between 13 and 14 percent, compared to a decline of 6.5 percent last year. President and CEO Jeffrey Griffiths has attributed the improvements to an earier than expected release for the redesigned PlayStation 2 console, as well as a number of titles that performed better than expected. Griffiths particularly singled out Halo 2 as leading the line-up of new releases, and looked forward to the release of the Nintendo DS in November as providing another earnings boost. In fact, information late last week indicated that EB stores are already limiting DS pre-orders to one console per customer, and the company has admitted it may have to stop taking pre-orders altogether, due to excessive demand and relatively limited initial supply. The company estimates fourth quarter revenue will increase 18 to 21 percent, and diluted earnings per share will be $1.62 to $1.72. This translates into full year diluted earnings per share of $2.18 to $2.29, compared to the previous forecast of $2.02 to $2.10.