THQ unlikely to break even this financial year, says analyst

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz reckon that Saints Row 2 publisher THQ is "likely miss its guidance" of breaking even for the second half of its March 09 fiscal year.

Creutz says the company won't hit its target "due to the declining performances of key franchises in the December quarter."

He says that recent NPD data shows WWE sales were down 22% in the December quarter compared with the previous year. Also, its SpongeBob franchise was down 19%.

He also cut his estimate on first year sales of the company’s flagship title Saints Row 2 to 900,000 from 1 million.

For the forthcoming financial year, Creutz sees profits to fall from 44 cents to 30 cents per share, with revenue of $985.3 million, down from $1.03 billion.

"We think THQ share performance is unlikely to improve unless the company demonstrates renewed earnings stability," said Crutez.

Thanks, TechTrader.

By Mike Bowden