B. Riley sees strong demand for Grand Theft Auto VI ahead of launch

Investing.com -- B. Riley reported findings from its recent survey work tracking pre-orders for Take-Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto VI, which started about two weeks ago. The firm maintains a Buy rating on the stock.

The analysis monitored activity across multiple digital storefronts, including Sony's PlayStation Store, Microsoft's Xbox Live, Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart on a daily basis from June 25 to July 8.

GTA VI pre-orders ranked as the top-selling item across all websites and services tracked during June and remained among the top-ranked items for early July. Pre-orders showed a heavy preference for PlayStation 5 versions, which B. Riley attributes to Sony's console outselling Xbox Series X/S by more than 3-to-1 during the current hardware cycle.

The Ultimate Edition, priced at $99.99, was the most popular version on PlayStation Store and Xbox Live. Retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop offered only the base physical edition at $79.99.

B. Riley's fiscal 2027 projections for GTA VI remain unchanged at $2.5 billion in full game net bookings, based on 37 million units at a $68 average selling price over a four-month period. The firm noted that GTA V sold more than 33 million copies over an eight-month period following its September 2013 release.

Take-Two Interactive is scheduled to report first-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings on August 7. B. Riley expects the company may provide commentary on pre-orders during that update.

The firm's estimates for the quarter include non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.34 on net bookings of $1.35 billion. Management's guidance ranges are $0.25 to $0.35 for earnings per share and $1.32 billion to $1.37 billion for net bookings.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Alphabet Sees FY26 Capex $195B To $205B, Saw $180B To $190B
• Wex, Inc. (WEX) Tops Q2 EPS by 29c; raises guidance
• Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Tops Q2 EPS by 335c