GameStop Makes a Fistful of Money, Then Watches Stock Plunge

Dallas-based Blockbuster has its problems; so noted. But Grapevine-based GameStop's doing all right, all right, all right for itself: Today, the seller of video game stuffs posted ginormous second-quarter income figures -- $57.2 million, or damned near three times what it brought in this time last year. Did amazingly well;...

By Robert Wilonsky

August 21, 2008

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Dallas-based Blockbuster has its problems; so noted. But Grapevine-based GameStop's doing all right, all right, all right for itself: Today, the seller of video game stuffs posted ginormous second-quarter income figures -- $57.2 million, or damned near three times what it brought in this time last year. Did amazingly well; outperformed all expectations; should do boffo biz from here till the end of '08.

Only, not so fast. Because the stock's down today, to $42.93 at the time of this posting -- a drop of 59 cents, a whole 1.36 percent. Er, uh, WTF? Well, as The Wall Street Journal points out, the drop is "a sign the results and outlook may not be good enough for investors amid worries that the slowing economy will pinch sales of videogame titles and consoles." And TheStreet.com provides further analysis concerning the declining margins. In related news, whatever happened to its "Starbucks of videogame stores" makeover? In sorta-related news, just how much do you like you Wii? --Robert Wilonsky

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