Take-Two Ready for 'BioShock 2' Impact

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) needs a shot in the arm, and BioShock 2 may be the plasmid the stock needs to finally break back above the $10 range.
The reviews are out for BioShock's second installment, and for the most part, they are impressive like a massive Big Daddy prototype going wild with a hulking rivet gun.

Take-Two shares have traded from $5.56 to $12.57 over the past 12 months and so far in 2010 its stock is down 5.97%, trading in the mid $9 range.  Short interest in Take-Two Interactive is still high, shortsqueeze.com has it at 19% of the float (see stats below) however that down 1 million shares from the previous month. 

Late last Carl Icahn made waves again as he purchased more than $9.7 million worth of Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO). Icahn snatched up more than 1 million shares at approximately $9.20 per share. The activist investor has three seats on the company's board and owns about 12.3% of the video game developer.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. did score an upgrade from Morgan Joseph last month from Hold to Buy and the price target set to $12.   That was after TTWO fell off a cliff when the company reiterated the initial guidance for fiscal 2010 that was provided in early December. For fiscal 2010, the Company expects a non-GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.40 to $0.60 on $1 billion to $1.2 billion in revenue. This excludes stock-based compensation expense of $0.46 per share. The Company also reiterated its guidance for the first quarter of 2010. The Company expects the non-GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.40 to $0.50 on $210 million to $260 million in revenue. This excludes stock-based compensation expense of $0.11 per share and non-cash interest expense related to convertible debt of $0.03 per share. According to Reuters Estimates, analysts are expecting the Company to report EPS of $(0.55) for fiscal 2010; EPS of $(0.50) for the first quarter of 2010. 

For now fellow Masters, it may be worth starting a small position in TTWO, but what we really care about is playing BioShock 2.  It has yet to be seen if BioShock 2 can be a real 'big daddy', but if its good enough for Icahn to buy another 1 million shares, it may be worth it for you to buy a few as well.

Reviews of BioShock 2:

BioShock 2 Review: In Case Of Rapture  Kotaku.com (blog) 

Bioshock 2 GameZone