Analysts at Evercore Partners reduced their price target for shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) to $2.50, stating that the online gaming company could face a potential downside of 11.35 percent from the previous closing price of the stock.
Despite the negative opinion released by the analysts regarding shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), the stock was up by 2.48 percent to $2.89 per share around 3:30 in the afternoon trading in New York on Monday. Over the past 52-week range, the stock price of the online gaming company traded to its lowest level at $2.09 per share to its highest price at $6.35 per share. Currently, the company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion.
Early this month, investors believed that Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is worth less than $750 million despite its $1.6 billion cash and marketable securities as the company struggles in shifting to mobile, a problem faced by most technology companies. The online gaming company’s monetization in mobile games is lower than its web games.
Zynga Layoffs:
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) announced its decision to lay off 18 percent or 520 employees as it continue its cost reduction and restructuring efforts. The workforce reduction would help the company save $15 million reversal of stock-based expense.
In addition, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) also updated its guidance for the second quarter of the current fiscal year. The online gaming company said its net losses for the quarter would be around $28.5 million to $39 million, and its bookings would be in the lower half of its previous outlook.
For the first quarter of 2013, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) reported a surprising earnings of $0.01 per share on $264 million revenue. The company beat the consensus estimate of analysts of -$0.04 losses per share and $265 million revenue.
In May, a research firm, H2 Gambling Capital opined that Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)’s revival depends on real-money online gambling market, which is expected to increase to $7.4 billion in the United States by 2017. The company could generate billions of dollars as Ultimate Gaming, a casino operator based in Las Vegas is planning to launch its first legal poker website in the U.S. Zynga’s online poker game, Texas HoldEm Poker, has 30 million monthly active users. The company applied for a license from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) last year.
Meanwhile, analysts at The Street reiterated their hold rating for the shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). UBS AG analysts lowered their EPS estimates for the stock and initiated a $3.30 price Target. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated their underperform rating for the stock with a $3.60 price target.
