SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc <ERTS.O> warned that fiscal 2011 earnings would miss Wall Street expectations as it grapples with a lack of blockbuster new games after a succession of missed targets and restructurings.

Shares of the U.S. video game publisher fell 8 percent after its current-quarter forecast also missed analysts’ expectations on Monday, a month after it had updated its current 2010, fiscal year outlook.

“Four weeks ago I don’t understand why they didn’t give a number they could hit,” said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

Investors have been grumbling over EA’s failure to meet its own guidance, its underperforming shares and a turnaround plan that even the company concedes is taking longer than expected.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc <ERTS.O> warned that fiscal 2011 earnings would miss Wall Street expectations as it grapples with a lack of blockbuster new games after a succession of missed targets and restructurings.

Shares of the U.S. video game publisher fell 8 percent after its current-quarter forecast also missed analysts’ expectations on Monday, a month after it had updated its current 2010, fiscal year outlook.

“Four weeks ago I don’t understand why they didn’t give a number they could hit,” said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

Investors have been grumbling over EA’s failure to meet its own guidance, its underperforming shares and a turnaround plan that even the company concedes is taking longer than expected.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc warned that fiscal 2011 earnings would miss Wall Street expectations, as it grapples with a lack of exciting new games after a succession of missed targets and restructurings.

The news sent shares of the U.S. video game publisher plunging 10 percent, after its current-quarter forecast also missed analysts’ expectations on Monday, a month after it had updated its current 2010 fiscal year outlook.

“I don’t understand how in four weeks things can change that much … considering the lineup that they had. To come out with these numbers is shocking,” said MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler.

EA forecast profit, excluding items, at 2 cents to 6 cents a share for the March quarter, on revenue of $800 million to $850 million. Analysts, on average, had forecast profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $850 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc <ERTS.O> warned that fiscal 2011 earnings would miss Wall Street expectations, as it grapples with a lack of exciting new games after a succession of missed targets and restructurings.

The news sent shares of the U.S. video game publisher plunging 10 percent, after its current-quarter forecast also missed analysts’ expectations on Monday, a month after it had updated its current 2010 fiscal year outlook.

“I don’t understand how in four weeks things can change that much … considering the lineup that they had. To come out with these numbers is shocking,” said MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler.

EA forecast profit, excluding items, at 2 cents to 6 cents a share for the March quarter, on revenue of $800 million to $850 million. Analysts, on average, had forecast profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $850 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Video game makers should begin to emerge in 2010 from one of their worst industry downturns on record, but investors remain cautious about a sector that has been plagued by bad news.

With a dismal 2009 finally in the rearview mirror, expectations are low for the industry as key game publishers prepare to release results from the crucial holiday season.

That could present a buying opportunity in a sector that underperformed the market last year, some analysts say.

Many expect video game software sales to grow robustly this year over the depressed levels of 2009, and say investors may have been a too bearish on the sector, particularly Activision Blizzard Inc, whose shares look attractive.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Video game maker THQ Inc <THQI.O> reported a quarterly profit that missed Wall Street’s target, but the company issued a forecast for the current quarter that was slightly better than expectations.

Separately, THQ said it would cut 60 jobs as it realigns two of its development studios to focus on digital distribution, including games for Facebook and Apple Inc’s <AAPL.O> iPhone and soon-to-be-released iPad.

The company’s shares rose 8 percent in after-hours trading, although volume was light.

“The Street seems to like the guidance, so shares are up,” said Signal Hill Group analyst Todd Greenwald. “The stock has been beaten up quite a bit. The bigger picture is that it wasn’t a disaster, so there’s probably something of a relief rally.”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc will soon battle in the nascent but fast-growing market for electronic books, and Wall Street has ring-side seats.

Both stocks have outperformed in the past year, roughly doubling in value, but which is the better pick for 2010?

Apple, flush with cash and a less lofty valuation than Amazon, may be the wiser choice in the short term as consumers snap up its devices to enjoy all forms of digital media, some analysts and investors say.

But for those with longer investment views, Amazon is showing stronger growth momentum coming out of the recession, as more traditional retail business moves online, others say.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 28 (Reuters) – U.S. flash memory maker SanDisk Corp <SNDK.O> posted better-than-expected results, but shares sank after the company issued an outlook that failed to meet investors’ expectations.

SanDisk forecast revenue for the current quarter of $875 million to $950 million and 2010 revenue of $4 billion to $4.4 billion.

That outlook was in line with Wall Street’s targets for first quarter revenue of $920 million and 2010 revenue of $4.3 billion.

But analysts said the market had hoped for something something more from SanDisk, which has seen its shares moe than double from year ago.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Apple Inc <AAPL.O> CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off a sleek tablet that it called the iPad, pitching the new gadget at a surprisingly low price to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops.

A buoyant Jobs took the stage at a packed theater on Wednesday to show off the 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet, which looks like a large iPhone, and to introduce a new iBook electronic reader service that will compete with Amazon.com Inc’s <AMZN.O> Kindle.

The iPad is Apple’s biggest bet on a new product since the iPhone three years ago, and seeks to tap an unproven market for tablets. Analysts, while impressed by the iPad’s seamless functionality, also pointed out that consumers already have smartphones and laptops for their mobile computing needs.

Jobs described the iPad as a “third category” of devices, a do-everything media gadget that can surf the Web, and play movies and video games. He also left little doubt that Apple was going after the e-book market that Amazon had popularized.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off a sleek tablet that it called the iPad, pitching the new gadget at a surprisingly low price to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops.

A buoyant Jobs took the stage at a packed theater on Wednesday to show off the 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet, which looks like a large iPhone, and to introduce a new iBook electronic reader service that will compete with Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle.

The iPad is Apple’s biggest bet on a new product since the iPhone three years ago, and seeks to tap an unproven market for tablets. Analysts, while impressed by the iPad’s seamless functionality, also pointed out that consumers already have smartphones and laptops for their mobile computing needs.

Jobs described the iPad as a “third category” of devices, a do-everything media gadget that can surf the Web, and play movies and video games.