GameStop plans to close 150 stores this year

GameStop's quarterly earnings report reflects some troublesome news. Total global sales dropped 3% to $3.58 billion when analysts were hoping for an upturn.

The area with the weakest profit margin was hardware sales, not surprisingly. The PlayStation Vita is a new and pricey item, and the Nintendo 3DS was slow to encourage sales—although Nintendo expects it to push more units and software and rake in more revenue by the handheld's anniversary on March 27 than the DS did in its first year.

So far, stocks are holding out despite the recent report because the retailer's overall sales for the entire fiscal year are predicted to be positive: expected to climb 1% to 5%, with earnings of $3.10 to $3.30 a share signifying a 8% to 15% growth.

Still, the company plans to shut down 150 existing stores and open only 100 new ones this year. Those are discouraging figures. No doubt the Nintendo Wii U will pad hardware sales to some degree, although the new console isn't arriving until the holiday season.

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