Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter is on a roll. Not only did he weigh in on Activision's recent performance, but he's also provided some very interesting comments about Take-Two in advance of the company's second quarter fiscal report on June 11.

He's maintaining a "Sell" rating on the stock and believes that a successful turnaround at the company will take more than a year to complete. "We believe that new management understands what is required to turn the company's fortunes around, and believe that they will take prudent steps to return the company to profitability," he said. "However, we believe that there are significant structural changes required in order to control costs, and believe that these changes will take more than a year to complete. On the revenue side, new management is saddled with the decisions made by the prior management for at least another year, and we do not expect new games such as The Bigs, All-Pro Football, Fantastic Four, or The Darkness to be wildly profitable."

He added, "We also think that the new management will take steps to cut costs as soon as practicable, resulting in studio closures and charge-offs for games in development."

The real interesting part of Pachter's note, however, is that a delay to the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV could be considered. He believes Take-Two may push the game out a few weeks for both financial reasons and to get further away from the (likely) mega blockbuster Halo 3. As it stands currently, Halo 3 is launching on September 25 and GTA IV is expected on October 16.

"We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to 'throw in the towel' on FY:07 by shifting the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV by a few weeks, increasing the losses incurred this year and improving the company's prospects for FY:08," Pachter explained. "We believe that a two-week delay would provide a reasonable gap between the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of GTA IV, and would actually help sales of both games. In addition, a delay of the 'normal' SKU for GTA IV by two or three weeks could allow Take-Two to maximize revenues from the $89.99 Collector's Edition of the game by shipping that SKU on October 17, and to increase overall profitability."