The social gaming company Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) went public with a lot of fanfare. A lot of people, industry observers, experts, and gamers were really sold on the whole prospect of social gaming. Zynga, after all, was the 800-pound gorilla of Facebook game apps. Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other highly popular games were made by Zynga. Moreover, Zynga is the company behind Zynga Poker, which is one of the most popular poker game apps on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). The problem was that Zynga had a tough time transitioning from a Facebook game app maker to a standalone game manufacturer. This lack of direction and its seeming inability to keep pace with the changes in the gaming landscape as well as the trend toward mobile technology has seen its stock crash to below $3.00. Still, it’s worth more than $1 billion dollars, and a lot of industry observers are pretty much writing it off.
The problem with writing off a gaming company is that it’s only as bad as its last failure. It only takes one hit to turn things around. Zynga stock recently appreciated 5.4% due to the good news that a lot of gaming bloggers and websites have given its new action game Dawn of Titans a thumbs up. It’s been testing in different regions, and it’s going to be launching later this year. If Zynga is able to successfully transition to a mobile social gaming entity, this may be a good time to start buying the stock. It’s beaten down by so much bad news. At less than $3, it’s still relatively inexpensive stock, given the upside potential, and also the fact that in the space that it’s playing in, revenue growth is often the driver of stock appreciation. This company is definitely worth keeping an eye on.