What Are the Risks Facing EA?

Its no secret the past five years have been challenging for Electronic Arts (NAS: EA) ; a quick look at its stock chart confirms the continuing setbacks that have befallen the company. I created a premium report on EA to help investors examine EA's future.

Following is an excerpt from the report, which focuses on the main risks facing the company. It's just a sample of one section, but we hope you enjoy.

When Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson downgraded shares of EA in late October, he detailed the "unimaginably disappointing" events at the company over the past year. The initial failure of Star Wars: The Old Republic made the cut, but so did the shortcomings of the NBA Live and Medal of Honor franchises.

EA doesn't need to hit on all cylinders. It can afford to skip an NBA season or see SimCity Social flop. However, if misses begin to outnumber the hits - and those hits aren't base-clearing homers -- EA will have problems.

It's also important to remember that the push for digital isn't a magical fountain of youth. Investors that bought into Zynga's IPO at $10 now know firsthand how even attracting tens of millions of players to a single game isn't enough to assure healthy financials. In fact, diving deeper into EA's own digital performance, we see that the Facebook (NAS: FB) gaming craze isn't just wearing on Zynga. EA reported 42 million monthly active users on social games at the end of fiscal 2013's second quarter, sharply below the 101 million monthly active players it was attracting a year earlier.

The gaming industry is in a state of transition. The slowdown in both console and even PC sales require an emphasis on the tablets and smartphones where casual gamers are passing the time. EA has the brands to matter, but the money to be made may not rival what the company was making when folks were gladly shelling out $50 or $60 for a new game.

Looking for more guidance?
That was just a sample of our new premium report on EA. If you're weighing whether the company is a buy or sell, the report is an essential resource for investors seeking more information on the company. Not only that, but the report also comes with updated quarterly guidance and dives into upcoming catalysts on the horizon. To get started, simply click here now.

The article What Are the Risks Facing EA? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and has options on Facebook. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Electronic Arts and Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.