On the strength of a strong BioShock release, Take-Two’s stock jumped 10 percent on Tuesday, to $14.80 per share on the Nasdaq.
The game has been getting extremely positive reviews since its release, scoring 9 out of 10 on Gamespot and being called “an unparalleled achievement” by GameSpy; on Amazon.com, the Xbox 360 version of the game is currently the best-selling item in the Videogame category, while the PC version is fifth on the list. The positive reception is welcome news for Take-Two, which was facing the holiday season without a major release due to delays in the latest chapters of the popular Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto franchises. The company has also been under the gun lately as a result of accounting scandals, and recently received a notice of pending SEC charges.
“There’s a lot of excitement over BioShock,” said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. “This could be a huge profit generator for them.” Following the announcement of delays in Grand Theft Auto IV, the company’s stock fell to its lowest level since October 2006, but Hickey added, “For people who were concerned about any liquidity issue, this game shows some promise for them. They could really surprise on the upside here.”
Another analyst, Kaufman Brothers Todd Mitchell, suggested the increase was also the result of renewed interest in Take-Two as a takeover target. However, he also indicated he didn’t believe it was something that would happen right away. “I think they’re here until they fix the company and they’re not flipping it at these levels,” he said, referring to the new management team that took over in March. “They want to see a turnaround before they do any kind of sale.”
