Take-Two Beats Street With Reduced Quarterly Loss On Increased Revenue

Take-Two's previous fiscal year may have closed with a big loss, leaving analysts a little pessimistic -- but in its first quarter the publisher outperformed predictions, boosting its sales and narrowing its losses. In its quarter ending January 31, Take-Two saw sales up 9.2 percent year over year to $163.2 million. At the same time, it reduced net losses 37.2 percent to $33.8 million -- compared to $53.8 million in the same period last year. The company has been making efforts to restructure, recently reducing its staff on the corporate side and selling off its Jack of All Games distribution business. CEO Ben Feder said that restructuring, plus the successes of NBA 2K10, Borderlands and the ongoing strength of its back catalog, supported the better-than-expected first quarter. "Take-Two has been strengthened through our cost savings initiatives and the sale of Jack of All Games, which allows us to focus our resources solely on our core business," commented Feder. Other key performers for the quarter included the Grand Theft Auto IV base game and episodes, and Carnival Games for Wii. The just-released BioShock 2 is likely to make a strong impact on the company's balance sheet in the current quarter. In the near future, Take-Two says it expects strong performance from Red Dead Redemption, the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the GTA4 episodes, and Sid Meier's Civilization V. The company's earnings release also said, "L.A. Noire, Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Sid Meier's Civilization V are all planned for release in the fourth fiscal quarter; however, the Company's fiscal year 2010 guidance reflects the potential movement of one of these titles into fiscal 2011." For the fiscal year ending October 31, the company is projecting revenue to fall between $725 million and $925 million, with a non-GAAP loss per share between $0.40 and $0.60.