Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) witnessed an increase in short interest in October totaling to 62,694,192 shares as of October 15th, an increase of 7.3% from the September 30th total of 58,421,688 shares. Presently, 8.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.
Shares trading close to 1-year low
A number of research firms have recently assigned a rating to Zynga. Zacks downgraded the shares from Outperform to Neutral, in a research note published on September 8th (price target of $3.30). Separately, analysts at Wedbush securities have slashed their price target on Zyngafrom $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note to the investors on August 8th. Finally, the analysts at Benchmark Co. lowered their price target on Zynga from $3.08 to $2.83 in a research note made public on August 8th. Overall, Zynga has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $3.86.
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has a 1-year low of $2.20 and a 1-year high of $5.89, and the shares are presently trading around $2.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.65 and its 200-day moving average is $3.11. Year to date shares are down over 38%. The company will report third quarter results after the close of markets on Thursday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Could Words with Friends rescue Zynga?
Things have been up and down for the social game maker as investors are not pleased with the company’s performance. The stock is down almost 75% since its late 2011 initial public offering. The company that went public at $10 surged to popularity with the success of FarmVille and Mafia wars. Revenue for the company was greatest in 2012, but has continued to slide even though the company has launched many new titles.
In October, the company launched a refreshed Words with Friends for iOS and Android users. A solo play feature has in particular been in great demand. Solo Play is compatible offline, making the game available for smartphone and tablet users. With the update, the company has added enhanced an Community Match feature to offer players better control over selecting opponents. A ‘Word of the Day’ and beefed-up dictionary will also give players the ability to expand their vocabularies.
