It’s hard to take such a bad firm seriously. I mean, really, Wedbush Morgan is the Rodney Dangerfield of investment banks. You know it. I know it.
Their scatter brained skepticism on Nintendo and Pokemon Go are, generally, incomprehensible. We all knew that Nintendo had a partner and everyone knew the revenue split. What exactly is new here, other than valuation?
Wedbush is skeptical about the game’s staying power and economics with Nintendo booking only modest profits from Pokémon Go and likely struggling to achieve its FY:17 guidance given its bullish 3DS software expectations and the potential for NX to slip out of the year Niantic is the publisher of the game and likely pays The Pokémon Company a royalty for the underlying IP. In addition, mobile revenues are split 70% / 30% between the publisher and the applicable storefront. Assuming Nintendo owns 32% of Niantic, matching its stake in The Pokémon Company, they believe that in a best case scenario Nintendo would be entitled to 22.4% of revenues or profits (70% times 32%), and any benefit will likely show up in non-operating income.
I’m not a fan of buying into a 100% melt up. But I do recognize when something special takes hold of people. Pokemon Go is something Nintendo will profit from, immensely. The question is, how sustainable is the hype?
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