Midway Games Reeling

Video game publisher Midway(MWY) missed analyst expectations for the third quarter on poor sales of some games, delays in the release of other titles and a lower financial outlook for the year.

The company warned on Oct. 2 that it would miss analyst estimates because of delays in the release of two games and lower sales expectations for another, BlackSite: Area 51.

Net losses for the quarter widened to $33.5 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with a loss of $22.2 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding stock option-related expenses and other charges, Midway reported a third-quarter loss of $28 million, or 31 cents a share. A year ago, the company reported a loss of $20.3 million, or 22 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting a loss of 33 cents a share.

Net revenue for the 2007 third quarter was $36.7 million compared with $27.4 million a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $39.17 million in the quarter.

Shares of Midway were off 7 cents, or 2.4%, to $2.83 in recent after-hours trading.

For the fourth quarter, Midway expects revenue of $80 million with a net loss of 21 cents a share.

Excluding charges, the company expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of 13 cents a share. Analysts are expecting a loss of 14 cents a share on revenue of $88 million.