Take-Two earnings surge on strong game sales

MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. on Monday reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $578.4 million, or $4.69 a share, compared with earnings of $70.9 million, or 66 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, the videogame publisher would have earned $210.7 million, or $1.70 a share, on $767.7 million. By that measure, Take-Two topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who forecast the company to earn $1.40 a share on $707.4 million in sales. Take-Two said its results were helped by strong sales from its Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K game franchises. However, for its fiscal fourth-quarter, Take-Two forecast earnings excluding certain items of zero to 10 cents a share on revenue between $170 million and $200 million. Analysts had earlier estimated Take-Two to earn 12 cents a share on $212.1 million in sales for its fourth quarter.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.