NEW YORK—Shares of most video game publishers slipped along with the broader market Friday even though data from the NPD Group showed February retail sales far outpaced analysts' expectations.
GameStop Corp., the world's largest video game retailer, was a notable exception, its shares up $1.25, or 2.7 percent, to $48.42 in midday trading. The stock has traded between $26.08 and $63.77 in the past 52 weeks.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said each company he covers -- including Activision Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Majesco, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., THQ Inc. and Ubisoft -- exceeded his expectations with strong February sales.
Hardware sales rose 19 percent during the month to $480 million, even amid supply constraints for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.
Software sales jumped 47 percent to $668.7 million, well above Pachter's estimate of a 27 percent increase.
Overall software sales, he wrote in a note to investors, "should remain strong throughout 2008." He expects better hardware availability and a stronger slate of new games to "allow sales growth to remain robust over the near term and to alleviate concerns about slowing industry sales or a weakening economy."
Shares of Take-Two, whose board is mulling over a $26-per-share tender offer from Electronic Arts, fell 54 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $25.10. EA's shares slipped 44 cents to $46.85.
Shares of "Guitar Hero" publisher Activision slid 40 cents to $26.83. The company is being acquired by Vivendi SA in a deal expected to close later this year.
THQ's shares fell 75 cents, or 4 percent, to $18. The stock has traded between $16.36 and $36.76 in the past 52 weeks.
