Two major game publishers got a lump of coal in their holiday stocking today, when analysts downgraded their stock ratings. Electronic Arts saw U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray lower its rating from outperform to market perform. W.R. Hambrecht went further, dropping EA from hold to sell. Hambrecht and Jaffray also lowered Take Two Interactive a notch from buy to hold and outperform to market perform, respectively. Analysts said both publishers' stocks were overvalued, and that their weak holiday lineups could cause a sales slump.

　　The downgrade announcement touched off a sell-off of the two companies' shares. EA dropped $0.96 to $43.20, while Take Two fell $0.10 cents to $32. Other publishers were affected, with Activision and THQ dipping $0.14 and $0.30, respectively.

　　However, all four stocks bounced back by day's end. Take Two and Activision more than recovered their losses, ending the day $0.65 (2.02%) and $0.19 (1.2%) ahead. Electronic Arts and THQ finished in the red, but limited their damage, down $0.47 (1.06%) and 0.23 (1.36%). EA was up $0.25 (0.57%) in after-hours trading.