Electronic Arts Gets Lift from March Game Sales

After a strong February, the video game industry had a decidedly mixed March.
Video game sales proper were down 4% while hardware and accessories were up.
Overall, the  industry at the end of the first quarter mirrors the same period
in 2010. Considering the relatively bleak year that 2010 was for software stocks
and video game sellers, thats not exactly promising news. For investors though,
Marchs action has left hints at who will prove strong this earnings season.
Nintendo (PINK: NTDOY ) made headlines this month, but canny investors should
look at Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS ) rather than the struggling house of
Mario. Nintendo released its new portable gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS, on
March 27. According to USA Today Nintendo sold just under 400,000 3DSs in the
U.S. None too shabby for a machine that was only on sale for part of one week in
the reporting period. But With no 3D titles in the video game sales top ten from
NPD, however, Nintendo should be concerned the gadget may not have staying power
or mass appeal. Also, Nintendo sold just 290,000 Wii home consoles, a
year-on-year drop of 48%. Thats a continuing trend, and part of the reason
Nintendos share price has fallen 21% since February. On the plus side, Nintendo
sold 460,000 DS machines along with 2.5 million copies of its new Pokemon Black
and Pokemon White games for the #1 and #2 video game titles on the month.
Unfortunately, that may not be enough to right the ship for NTDOY. March video
game sales were promising for some companies though. Electronic Arts continued
to enjoy an impressive 2011 . Its new role-playing game Dragon Age II was the
fourth-best seller on the month, while its new shooting game Crysis II took #7
and its boxing simulator Fight Night Champion took #10. Electronic Arts has also
said that its other 2011 titles Dead Space 2 and Buletstorm continue to sell
well. April should also prove strong for EA— Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 ,
released on Mar. 29—saw better first week sales than any previous entry in the
series according to GamesIndustry.biz . The stock has been hovering near its
52-week-high at $20. Continued strong sales of these titles could push ERTS
higher. Other stocks had a decent month as well. Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:
ATVI ) and its Call of Dut y : Black Ops took #5 on the chart, but has little
other good news until it announces new products at the E3 expo in June. THQ
(NASDAQ: THQI ) had a major victory with its shooting game Homefront coming in
at #3 behind Nintedos Pokemon titles, but strong sales didnt help the stock
recover from its March nose dive to $4.50 per share. THQ has been purely a day
trading proposition since the 2008 crash. Homefront s performance could turn
that around, but investors should wait and see. Take-Two (NASDAQ: TTWO ) is the
other stock to watch coming out of March. Its basketball game NBA 2K11 came in
at number eight on NPDs chart, its six month in the top 10. The stock is up 5%
since Thursday, trading at $15.80 at the time of writing. The company will
likely dominate video game sales going into the third quarter when it releases
Rockstar Games ( Grand Theft Auto ) L.A. Noire on May 17, much as it did with
Red Dead Redemption in 2010. As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not
own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at 
@ajohnagnello and  become a fan of  InvestorPlace on Facebook.