By Angela Palumbo
Take-Two Interactive Software raised its fiscal year guidance, but that wasn't enough to insulate the stock from the overall tech selloff on Wednesday.
Take-Two reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of 50 cents a share after the stock market closed on Tuesday, which was wider than Wall Street estimates for a loss of 39 cents a share. However, net bookings -- the amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically during the period -- of $1.76 billion beat expectations of $1.58 billion.
Take-Two posted a loss of 71 cents a share and net bookings of $1.37 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company also said it now expects net bookings for the fiscal year, which ends on March 31, to be between $6.65 billion to $6.7 billion, compared with previous guidance of $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion. Analysts were expecting fiscal 2026 net bookings of $6.47 billion.
Both shareholders and customers were also waiting to hear from the company if the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI was still being launched on Nov. 19, 2026. That anticipation has been building after Take-Two delayed the release of this game several times, but management did confirm last night that the game is still on track for that November release.
"Our execution throughout fiscal 2026 has been extraordinary, and we're highly confident as we approach fiscal 2027, which promises to be groundbreaking for Take-Two and the entire entertainment industry," CEO Strauss Zelnick said on the earnings call.
Shares initially jumped as much as 7% in after-hours trading following the earnings release, according to Dow Jones Market Data. But the stock was down 3% to $205.90 in regular trading hours on Wednesday as the broader tech sector continued its selloff. The Nasdaq Composite was down 1% as Wall Street concerns that artificial intelligence apps can disrupt software intensified.
Take-Two stock also fell 7.9% on Jan. 30 because of concerns regarding the future of videogame development in an AI world. Alphabet announced the availability of its AI virtual world creation tool, Project Genie, which gives users the ability to create fully rendered three-dimensional worlds as well as controllable characters in those worlds.
" Genie's early in its iteration at this point, and trying to make a comparison to a game engine is just really -- they're not even in the same ballpark. Genie is not a game engine," Take-Two President Karl Slatoff said on the earnings call.
Several analysts think the company's financial results prove that Take-Two stock can bounce back despite these ongoing AI headwinds.
"This was about as good as the quarter could have realistically gone, and we continue to find the stock a compelling buy at these levels post-the Genie move," Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok wrote on Tuesday. He raised his price target to $285 from $275 and maintained an Outperform rating on the stock.
BofA Securities analyst Omar Dessouky maintained his Buy rating and $295 price target on Wednesday. He wrote that Genie "cannot supplant end--to--end game production," and the "AI-driven selloff creates enhanced buying opportunity."
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2026 12:03 ET (17:03 GMT)
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