Take-Two Takes Another Shot

Editor's Note: Herb Greenberg's column runs exclusively on RealMoney.com; this is a special free look at his column. For a free trial subscription to RealMoney.com, click here. This article was originally published June 7 on RealMoney.

Fried-Day:

Trouble for Take-Two? Take-Two (TTWO Quote) bagged its buddies Thursday when it warned (in not so many words, of course) that third-quarter earnings would be roughly half of what analysts had been expecting. Buddies like Fidelity and Alliance, which are both big holders. (Didn't Alliance learn its lesson from Enron and Tyco (TYC Quote)?)

The result: Despite management's attempt to put an upward spin on a downward-spiraling story, there was a noticeable absence of "great quarter, guys!" on the conference call. Analysts had expected the software game maker, whose fortunes had been given a lift by sizzling sales of Grand Auto Theft III, to earn 12 cents in the current quarter. Instead, guidance was for 7 cents. The company, which is under formal investigation by the SEC, offered no explanation for the lower number. ...