Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) shares saw increase in short interest during the month of September totaling to 59,221,210 shares on 15th September, an increase of 12.4% from the August 29th to total of 52,695,202. Around 8.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. On an average trading volume of 12,387,840 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days.
Not expected from new titles
Last quarter, Zynga reported earnings that failed to instill confidence among the investors. The outlook was bleak, and going by the sentiments it can be said that the game maker’s latest efforts to strike a deal with big brands and use their IP might not do as much good as expected. NFL Showdown game was not downloaded in as much quantity as expected and the soon to be launched Loony Tunes Dash is again low on creativity and originality, says a report from Forbes. Web bookings of Zynga is also low, and the company expects its full-year bookings to come somewhere between $695 million and $725 million.
Zynga has tied with big companies, but according to the recent reports the company will not be able garner as many paying users as may be necessary to gain the investor’s confidence. Along with receiving a tepid response with NFL Showdown app from iOS users, the game is registering low download ever since it has been launched.
Zynga needs to be innovative
A recent data from App Annie, a web firm that compiles app data for iPhone and iPad users, showed the un-impressive performance of NFL showdown download over the past few weeks. Performance of the game on iOS is an important metric because average revenue per iOS user is much higher than the figure of Android users. It could be an important metrics because iOS users more frequently pay for Apps and in-app purchases compared to Android users.
Park associate reported that 33% of iPhone users have a lifetime value of $5,000 or more as compared to just 22% of Android phone users.
Looney Tunes Dash also falls in the category of a running game, and is not expected to do much in reviving the company. There are various hit games such as Temple Run and Stampede Run in the category. The social game maker needs to be innovative to create a niche for itself, and just licensing the deals with new brands will not do any good.
