Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: GameStop Corp., Microsoft, Sony, Anthracite Capital and BlackRock.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 19, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: GameStop Corp. (GME - Analyst Report), Microsoft (MSFT - Analyst Report), Sony (SNE - Analyst Report), Anthracite Capital (AHR - Snapshot Report) and BlackRock (BLK - Snapshot Report).

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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

GameStop Underperforming Market

The S&P 500 is up 33% from its March 9 low, but GameStop Corp. (GME - Analyst Report) shares are up just 14%. This weak relative performance is not justified. GME is trading at just 9 times consensus 2009 EPS estimates, it is one of the few retailers that will increase its sales this year, and the company’s earnings are expected to grow about 23% this year and 12% in 2010.

It appears that market expects the video game industry, which has held up well during the economic downturn, to finally succumb to the macro environment. Recent data from the NPD Group support that view. Last week, the NPD Group reported that video game sales in April were soft. Sales of consoles Microsoft’s (MSFT - Analyst Report) Xbox 360, Sony’s (SNE - Analyst Report) PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii declined 8% from April 2008, while sales of new video games fell 23%. For April, console sales totaled $392 million and new video game sales were $511 million.

Before hitting that "sell"-button on your GME shares, look at the April sales report in some context. The year-on-year sales drop was due to a weaker release schedule. In April 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart were big hits, and there were no comparable releases in April 2009. This year, game developers and publishers are waiting until the second half 2009 to release their best games to take advantage of the holiday season. For video games (and most retailers), it is much smarter to disappoint in the spring than in the fall, when sales are much higher.

Anthracite Gets New Life

Anthracite Capital (AHR - Snapshot Report) announced that it had extended the expiration of its credit facilities until September 30th, 2010. AHR has about $365 million outstanding with several banks.

The company had tripped covenants on its credit facilities and has been negotiating an amendment. In addition, AHR received an extension on another smaller facility until June 30th, which had been breached, with a subsidiary of its parent company, BlackRock (BLK - Snapshot Report).

This announcement gives the company some breathing room; it eliminates all mark-to-market provisions, the right to make future margin calls, and scheduled amortization payments. Instead, the company will follow a cash management plan which will pay interest and principle on its outstanding loans.

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