The retail game business continues to benefit from the strong sales of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One — but that’s not all.
GameStop reported the results of its fiscal Q2 today, and the company revealed that it generated revenues of $1.76 billion. That’s up 1.8 percent from $1.73 billion during the same period in the previous year. That also beat Wall Street’s estimate of $1.74 billion. Earnings for GameStop were equally impressive at 31 cents per share (EPS). That demolished analyst estimates that were expecting an EPS of 24 cents. Those strong numbers saw the stock price for the world’s largest gaming-specific physical retailer jump 1.8 percent in after-hours trading to $47. Investors are likely responding well to these figures knowing that the company’s biggest quarter is still ahead of it with the upcoming gift-giving holidays as well as its successful expansion into other categories.
In a statement, GameStop chief executive officer Paul Raines emphasized that his company exceeded its own expectations, and he gave much of that credit to the its stores that don’t carry the GamesStop brand name.
“During the quarter, we increased the number of ‘technology brands’ stores by 33 percent,” said Raines.
He is referring to GameStop’s Apple-product retailer SimplyMac and AT&T outlets Cricket Mobile. But GameStop’s diversification plans don’t stop with those two brands.
Above: Smells even worse on the inside.
“[We also] completed the acquisition of Geeknet, continuing the expansion of our non-gaming businesses,” said Raines.
Geeknet is the parent company of the online retailer Thinkgeek that deals in nostalgia and pop-culture items. Perhaps you’ve seen its Star Wars sleeping bag that looks like a Tauntaun.
This purchase gives GameStop one more way to leverage the power of its retail outlets to reach gamers with goods that traditionally only existed online. This company has repeatedly shown it knows how to flex the muscle of its thousands of brick-and-mortar locations to even sell physical and even digital items to customers. And Thinkgeek will provide it with a whole new arsenal of goods to sell to those people lining up at midnight to pick up the latest triple-A release for their PS4, Xbox One, or Wii U.