Gamestop Warns 'Star Wars: Battlefront' Sales Weaker Than Anticipated, But Rally Is Expected Into Holidays

• Shares of GameStop Corp. GME were trading down 9 percent on Monday after the company reported third quarter earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $2.016 billion, missing the Street’s consensus estimate of $0.59 per share and $2.121 billion.
• The company attributed the miss to a decline in sales of new gaming hardware and software. "Star Wars: Battlefront" was among the underperformers.

Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the maker of the Star Wars game, tumbled almost 6 percent.

Shares of GameStop and Electronic Arts were falling on Monday, after the former missed revenue and earnings estimates on the back of weak new games sales. Over the third quarter, new video game software sales saw a decline of 9.3 percent, to $674.5 million. Furthermore, new gaming consoles sales plummeted more than 20 percent, to $358.1 million.

Related Link: 'Star Wars Battlefront' Reviews May Be Weak, But This Expert Thinks EA Stock Is Still A Buy

Leaving the third quarter behind, Chief Operating Officer Tony Bartel assured that hardware sales had picked up "dramatically" since the fourth quarter began on November 1. The COO explained that some games like "Call of Duty: Black Ops III" and "Fallout 4" had been selling well, but the much anticipated "Star Wars: Battlefront," which was launched on November 17, fared worse than expected.

However, Bartel added, management believes "Star Wars: Battlefront" sales will "rally very strong" as the movie launch date gets closer.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.