Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has been stuck in a crisis for quite a long time now. As key games of the company continue to lose players, all eyes are now set on the returning CEO, Mark Pincus, to save the dying company.
Pincus took over the reins, once again in April, by replacing Don Mattrick. It should be noted here that Mattrick was hired by Pincus to replace himself as the company chief in 2013. Five months later, Zynga still has not reported any significant gains. However, the share price spiked up recently, after the company filed its most recent quarterly report. Furthermore, Pincus took the opportunity to publicize his plans to turn around the fortunes of the company.
He revealed that he wants to take Zynga back to its basics, when the company was still new and targeted casual players, instead of dedicated gamers. The details of how this would be done are yet to be revealed. However, under Mattrick, Zynga was taking a completely contradictory approach to that of Pincus. The company had more recently been geared towards attracting hardcore gamers. Unfortunately, this meant significantly reducing the market, while investing a lot more money for developing console based games. Pincus also emphasized on utilizing user data to make better design decisions and approach a more targeted audience. Additionally, Pincus might be planning to deviate from the company’s current business model, as he emphasized on being more innovative with its games.
Analysts have, however, remained unimpressed by the declaration made by Mr. Pincus, as they set their expectations of EPS at $-0.04 for the current quarter. Coincidently, these were also the earnings per share of the preceding quarter. Furthermore, a total of 13-analysts have set the average price target for ZNGA at $3.336, with an average hold rating.
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) closed at a share price of $2.49, after reporting a rise of 0.81% in its share value. A total of 7.13 million company shares changed hands during the September 14 session.