Activision Blizzard Profit Surges, Tops Estimates - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) Thursday reported a surge in second-quarter net income to $324 million or $0.28 per share from $185 million or $0.16 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $90 million or $0.08 per share, compared with $224 million or $0.20 per share a year ago.

On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.07 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Results for the quarter were helped by a decrease in operating expenses to $620 million from $848 million last year.

Meanwhile, GAAP net revenues for the quarter were lower at $1.05 billion, compared with $1.08 billion in the prior year, hurt by lower product sales, while subscription and licensing business fared well.

On a non-GAAP basis, net revenues for the quarter totaled $608 million, compared with $1.05 billion a year ago. Analysts expected revenues of $604.84 million.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Activision Blizzard expects earnings of $0.03 per share, GAAP net revenues of $635 million, and non-GAAP net revenues of $585 million. Analysts expect earnings of $0.03 per share on revenues of $577.43 million.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects net earnings of $0.06 per share, non-GAAP earnings of $0.54 per share, GAAP net revenues of $1.3 billion, and non-GAAP net revenues of $2.252 billion.

For the full year 2013, the company raised its GAAP outlook and now expects earnings of $0.77 per share and net revenues of $4.31 billion. It earlier expected earnings of $0.73 per share on net revenues of $4.22 billion.

On a non-GAAP basis, the company continues to expect earnings of $0.82 per share on net revenues of $4.25 billion for 2013. Analysts expect earnings of $0.85 per share on revenues of $4.28 billion.