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| 2002 News and Press Releases |
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SETTLEMENT:
THQ Cuts Sales, Profit Forecast For 4th-Qtr And 2003
By: John Stebbins
Bloomberg News. December 23, 2002
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EXCERPT: THQ Inc. shares fell as much as 23 percent after the maker of "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "WWF Raw" video games reduced sales and profit forecasts for the fourth quarter and 2003. Fourth-quarter profit, excluding some costs, will be 40 cents to 43 cents a share on sales of $215 million to $220 million, THQ said in a statement. THQ was expected to earn 93 cents on sales of $263 million, the average Thomson First Call analyst estimates. The shares of THQ and rivals including Electronic Arts Inc., Activision Inc., and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. each had dropped more than 20 percent this quarter as demand for games played on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Nintendo Co.'s GameCube machines lagged forecasts and retailers pared inventories. "Given what's going on in the marketplace, their warning is not a surprise - what is a surprise is the magnitude," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities who rates THQ a "buy" and said he doesn't own the stock. "I expected them to execute better this quarter." …Fourth-quarter net income also will be reduced by $2 million in legal costs related to the settlement of shareholder lawsuits, and $3.2 million in costs to scrap development on some products.
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