Take-Two's $44B valuation is hard to justify after it lost $10B over four years, leaving only $3.6B of shareholder equity, while diluting shareholders by 50%. Even if GTA 6 is a huge success, it may not make up for those losses. x.com
Late Stage Capitalism
Physician, Long-Term Stock Investor with 30 Years of Experience
Take-Two's GTA 6 excitement is already priced in, and without a marketplace or online ecosystem at launch, its larger commerce-platform thesis will take much longer to develop. The weekly structure broke and the stock has fallen about 25%, with a volume gap between $200 and $160; it should continue lower toward the monthly institutional buy zone, where $160-$170 offers a much better entry. Risk/reward doesn't justify a short here. x.com
Take-Two's next rerating depends on details of its platform monetization bull case, which the market has not yet seen. @Maksim_P_M argues demand for GTA VI is strong and the upside lies in turning it into a platform through GTA+ and microtransactions, but the market is signaling that this does not matter yet. CEO Strauss Zelnick's non-deal roadshow this month aims to support the stock, but it is unclear what flips bears without data he has no incentive to give. x.com
Take-Two is down more than 25% from its all-time highs with GTA VI coming out in two months. x.com
Take-Two could dip below 200 one more time before the GTA 6 release. Stocks facing binary events like this launch tend to make everyone panic right up until the last moment. x.com
Take-Two is heading lower because it priced Grand Theft Auto VI too low and will launch it without GTA Online, leaving a revenue air pocket ahead. Preorders start June 25 at $79.99 standard and $99.99 ultimate, when $100 up front would have been the right call. @KakashiCapital_ argues the $80 price is bullish and add-ons will follow, but investors are not prepared for the online revenue gap. x.com x.com x.com
Take-Two is a coiled spring waiting for GTA VI to print billions, so this quarter barely matters. Revenue rose just 2% to $1.53B while development costs and royalties jumped from $30M to $135M, cutting gross profit 7% and turning a $22M operating profit into a $36M loss; EPS fell from −$0.07 to −$0.18. Patience is required until the game launches. x.com
Netflix's problems are solvable while it prints money, making the stock a bargain at this price with a huge moat and great franchise. Its strategy should include more movies in theaters, sports only at a reasonable cost, a fixed ad business, and buying Take-Two to own a game studio and IP; GTA6 is a huge opportunity to connect with younger viewers and run ads in-game. x.com x.com
Microsoft's $75B Activision Blizzard deal has been a total failure, underperforming cash. Three years in, Game Pass has about 30M subscribers at $20 a month, roughly $7.2B a year; at a 33% margin that is $2.4B, a 30-year payback, and the deal didn't materially help console sales. The same $75B in a high-yield savings account would throw off over $3B a year. x.com x.com
Take-Two looks too cheap with GTA 6 on the horizon. There seems to be massive pent-up demand not just for GTA but for any reasonably good AAA game, and little real competition is left in that segment. x.com
Sony might be a big winner if rising memory costs and GTA 6 push gamers to buy a PlayStation 5 before further price increases. After Apple's price hikes, people know memory is driving electronics prices higher, and GTA 6 releases this year. In-game purchases and PS Plus subscriptions add to the case, while most investors see only Take-Two as the obvious play. @michaelsikand argues demand is inelastic enough that Sony will sell every PlayStation it can make this fiscal year. x.com