Holiday Mama: Majesco Q1 Sales Increase 75.8 Percent

Holiday sales of its flagship Cooking Mama franchise across four SKUs played a  key role in helping Majesco Entertainment [COOL] increase its revenue almost 76 percent, the company said today, adding it has increased guidance for the current fiscal year.

The company reported a net income of $4.2 million, or 15 cents per share on revenues of $32.8 million for the quarter, which ended January 31. That compares to a net income of $2.4 million, or 10 cents per share on revenues of $18.7 million in the same quarter last year.

“Our success was driven by strong demand across our product line, specifically for our Cooking Mama titles and the newly released Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009, which has become a hit with approximately 500,000 copies sold to date,” said CEO Jesse Sutton.

In a conference call with investors, Sutton said Majesco could have done better when it comes to marketing its key titles, and intends to do so going forward. Gardening Mama, coming to Wii at the end of this month, figures to be one of those key titles.

Majesco implemented a casual gaming strategy three years ago in which it would publish mostly on Nintendo’s console and handheld platforms. New titles, such as the upcoming Gardening Mama, usually debut on Wii at an attractive $30 price point. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told Wired last year that Majesco’s lower cost structure enables it to make a profit off of significantly lower revenues when compared to a AAA title from a larger publisher.

The rest of the fiscal year will also see the release of a remake of the NES classic, A Boy and His Blob for Wii, due in Q4. The title has been getting decent press at the mainstream gaming sites and will be one to watch.

The company has increased its outlook for the full year and expects its revenue to fall between $75 million and $80 million, and earnings per share to be between 10 and 14 cents.