Multiple analysts have reiterated their BUY rating for Electronic Arts stock as the company has announced that total Madden NFL 09 sales have greatly outpaced the game’s flailing pre-order rate.

Pre-orders for the year’s Madden were down 25% versus last year, but EA has announced that actual sales of the game were up 6%, generating $133.5 million (£75.74m) in retail dollars.

This strong performance was no surprise to analysts, who have predicting for some time that the low pre-order numbers would not accurately reflect final sales. Arvind Bhatia with Sterne Agee & Leach said in a financial note that this performance was “in line with our checks,” and attributed the higher retail dollar count to sales of the $89.99 (£51) collector’s edition, as well as a higher percentage of total sales being from the higher-priced Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, compared to last year. Bhatia expects Madden to generate 16 percent of EA’s revenues for the quarter and five percent for the year, giving the company a two-year price target of $72 (£41).

Lazard Capital’s Colin Sebastian also found the performance “consistent with our channel checks and notes,” though he did mention that “declining PS2 unit sales remain a headwind on growth” and that due to higher prices of current Madden versions total unit sales were likely flat compared to last year. Sebastian gave a price target for EA as $55 (£31), stating that both Madden performance and early indications of Spore’s success are good signs for the company.