Sterne Agee industry watcher estimates shipments of EA’s new shooter have reached 3 million, coming up short of original’s 5 million.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter failed to live up to its predecessor with regards to sales. That’s according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, who told investors today that EA likely shipped fewer than 3 million copies of Warfighter to date, compared to the 2010 original Medal of Honor‘s 5 million.

Since release in October, EA has not announced official sales figures for Warfighter. In October, EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau said critical reception for the game “fell below our expectations.”

Sterne Agee downgraded EA shares from “Buy” to “Neutral” today over concerns that Wall Street’s estimates along with EA’s own guidance for full-year sales will prove overly optimistic. EA announced in October that it plans to haul approximately $4.05 to $4.20 billion in full-year net revenue.

The downgrade was a result of a range of factors, including lowered sales expectations for Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, SimCity, and Fuse, all of which are due during EA’s fourth quarter.

Adding to the trouble, according to Bhatia, was Warfighter’s “disappointing early performance,” the cancellation of NBA Live 13 in September, and difficult comparisons to last year, which saw the release of the top-performing Battlefield 3. The analyst said EA would have been smart to lower its full-year sales expectations due to these factors.

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