Shanda Games (fka GAME)

[eastunder]

JANCO Partners Upgrades Shanda Games (GAME) to Buy; FPS Market Opportunity

11:08 am ET 03/08/2011-
JANCO Partners upgraded Shanda Games (NASDAQ: GAME) from Market Perform to Buy. PT raised from $7.09 to $7.78.

JANCO analyst says, "The majority of the Company s performance arrives from two older games, a portfolio life cycle perception that has weighed heavily on share price performance and our initial rating enthusiasm.

Offsetting legacy title weight includes successful recent game releases: Dragon Nest and Hades Realm II, both key contributors for fiscal Q1 11 sales growth outlook and fiscal Q4 10 reported performance upside.

Key upcoming games include: Legend of Immortals, Bubble Fighter, Final Fantasy XIV, Dragon Ball Online, Sudden Attack (licensed FPS) and Point Blank (licensed FPS)." "It s possible they could have won the license to operate / develop Call of Duty: Online in China from Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), considering their development capabilities / experience, item based sales model and positive view toward FPS market opportunity; strongly combinated by the necessity to drive forward aggregate performance growth from new game introductions as legacy performance drivers remain challenged.

The aforementioned deal metrics could drive attractive terms for Activision Blizzard, for an IP that was likely highly contended." .