Despite a banner 2006 for game sales, many game publishers' shares have struggled recently on the Nasdaq stock exchange. GameStop, however, has seen its fortunes steadily climb since hitting a one-year low of $35.87 last June. The company's stock ended the day at $53.04, just over $5 below its 52-week high of $58.42.

　　Apparently, GameStop's board of directors thinks the company's share price is too robust. Today, GameStop announced a 2-for-1 stock split that will give each current shareholder two shares worth half as much as one share's value at the end of trading on February 20. The additional shares will be handed out March 16.

　　The stock split is the first since GameStop was first listed on the Nasdaq in 2002. The company currently has around 76 million shares of common stock, which will double to 152 million once the split is in effect.

　　Analyst reaction to the news was mostly positive. "We continue to believe that the shares present an attractive opportunity for appreciation, particularly to investors with a time horizon of greater than one year, and advise investors to opportunistically add to positions," said Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter in a note sent to investors.

　　GameStop stock was down slightly in after-hours trading, falling just $0.08 (0.15 percent) to $52.96 as of press time.