EA shares tumble after Q4 report

Yesterday, things didn’t look bad for EA.

Investors hadn’t exactly jumped at the news of a 99 percent growth in the publisher’s digital division, but stocks hadn’t dropped significantly on the day the company released its earnings report for Q4 2012.

When the market closed, EA shares were valued at $15.13 a share.

This morning that figure had fallen to $14.25.

As investors had time to sort through the report, it emmerged that EA’s guidance for the coming year was down.

One of EA’s biggest releases of the quarter, MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, has already lost 23 percent of its subscribers.

Investors took this as a bad omen, and after hours trading took stocks down by six percent, and day trading drove them to a low of $13.83.

EA shares have not dipped this low since 1999.

By the days end, stocks were back up to $14.48; down 4.8 percent from yesterday’s close.

EA’s 2005 heyday saw share prices reach nearly $65, but the company has been on the decline since 2007.