Even next-gen consoles can't save GameStop's 2013 fiscal year

Thanks to sales boosts from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launches, GameStop today celebrated a minor increase in earnings for the 2013 fiscal year -- but the company still missed its fourth-quarter expectations. The company said that the launch of the new consoles at the end of 2013 helped GameStop's market share reach an all-time high, and has "re-energized" the video game category. For the fiscal year ended February 1, 2014, GameStop posted global sales of $9.04 billion, up 1.7 percent year-over-year, driven primarily by a 29.7 percent increase in new video game hardware sales. Meanwhile, net earnings were $354.2 million, compared to net losses of $269.7 million year-over-year. Notably, new video game software and pre-owned sales still declined by 2.8 percent and 4.1 percent respectively for the full year, while digital sales increased by 15.1 percent to $724.4 million. And GameStop's mobile and consumer electronics sales up were 51.6 percent year-over-year. Regardless, the company missed its earnings expectations for the fourth quarter, and its share price fell early this morning. For the current fiscal year, GameStop expects to see sales growth of between 8 and 15 percent, and profits of between $398 million and $433 million.