By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- GameStop Corp. was one of the top
decliners among tech stocks Thursday, following the videogame
retailer's quarterly results, while King Digital Entertainment lost
more ground a day after a disappointing IPO debut.
GameStop (GME) fell by 7.5%, to $36 a share, after the company
reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.89 a share, on
revenue of $3.68 billion, compared with earnings of $2.15 a share
on $3.56 billion in sales in the same period a year ago. Analysts
had forecast GameStop to earn $1.92 a share on $3.79 billion in
sales.
The company said sales rose from a year ago in part because of
new game console releases from Sony Corp. (SNE) and Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT). However, GameStop's results also fell short of Wall
Street's forecasts as sales of game for older models of PlayStation
and Xbox consoles were weak.
GameStop also said it would close 2% of its stores this year,
and forecast a first-quarter profit in a range of 55 cents to 60
cents a share, excluding one-time items, with revenue rising
between 7% and 10% from a year ago.
King Digital (KING) shares fell another 3.5%, to $18.33, a day
after the developer of the "Candy Crush Saga" videogame staged one
of the worst public debuts of the year. On Wednesday, King Digital
went public at $22.50 a share, after earlier setting a price range
of $21 to $24 a share for its IPO. King Digital ended its first day
as a public company with its shares falling more than 15%.
Microsoft (MSFT) fell 5 cents a share to $39.73. New Chief
Executive Satya Nadella is scheduled to hold his first press
conference as CEO in San Francisco, Thursday, and there have been
reports that he will unveil a version of Microsoft Office for the
iPad.
Facebook Inc. (FB) was down by 1.5% at $59.50 a share. The
social-networking giant failed to recover from Wednesday's decline
of almost 7%, which came after the company acquired virtual reality
goggles maker Oculus VR Inc. for $2 billion in cash and stock.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) managed to come back from its
early market losses and was up by 3 points at 4,176. The
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also edged its way into
positive territory.
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