Electronic Arts Q2 Profit Up, But Shares Down On Weak Outlook

(RTTNews) - Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) on Tuesday posted a profit for the second quarter, as revenues increased. However, shares of the electronic game developer slipped more than 5% after it forecast a third-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.

Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts reported second-quarter profit of $255 million or $0.83 per share, compared with loss of $22 million or $0.07 per share a year ago. On average, 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.58 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Electronic Arts' revenue for the second quarter rose to $1.29 billion from $959 million a year ago. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.18 billion for the quarter.

"We're pleased with the performance of our business through the second quarter, and particularly with the strong digital net bookings," said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen. "We continue to deliver strong digital revenues across multiple platforms, business models and geographic territories."

Digital net bookings for the trailing twelve months was a record $3.608 billion, up 11% year-over-year and represents 69% of total net bookings.

Looking forward to the full year 2019, EA expects earnings of about $3.11 per share and revenues of $5.150 billion. Analysts currently expect earnings of $4.61 per share on revenue of $5.27 billion.

For the third quarter, EA expects earnings of $about $0.61 and revenues of $1.375 billion. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $2.42 per share and revenues of $2.0 billion.

EA had postponed the launch date for Battlefield V to November 20, pushing back the release date by four weeks.

EA closed Tuesday's trading at $94.83, up $3.64 or 3.99%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $4.83 or 5.09% in after-hours trade.