Electronic Arts Swings To Q2 Profit - Update

(RTTNews) - Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) on Tuesday reported a swing to profit in the second quarter, reflecting continued strong demand from gamers for titles compatible with the new-gen consoles, with both earnings and revenues topping Wall Street estimates. Moving forward, the video-game publisher lifted its full-year 2015 outlook.

The video game publisher continues to benefit from demand for games for the next-generation consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched last fall. Electronic Arts claims to be the number one publisher of games on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the western world, driven by strong titles like FIFA 15, Madden NFL 15, Titanfall, Battlefield 4, and EA Sports UFC.

Electronic Arts, popularly known as EA Games, said its mobile sports games averaged more than 40 million monthly active users in the second quarter, up 250 percent year-over-year, driven by Madden NFL Mobile and FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Mobile.

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson observed, "It was an excellent second quarter, with strong new titles, deep player engagement in our live services and ongoing digital growth driving continued momentum."

Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts reported a second-quarter profit of $3 million or $0.01 per share, compared with a loss of $273 million or $0.89 per share last year.

Adjusted profit for the quarter was $232 million or $0.73 per share, up from $105 million or $0.33 per share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.53 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Electronic Arts' revenue for the quarter rose to $990 million from $695 million last year. Revenues, excluding change in deferred revenues, rose to $1.22 billion from $1.04 billion a year ago. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.16 billion for the quarter.

Looking forward to the third quarter, the company now expects adjusted earnings of $0.90 per share and adjusted revenues of $1.28 billion. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.86 per share on revenues of $1.30 billion.

For the full year, Electronic Arts now projects adjusted earnings of $2.05 per share and adjusted revenues of $4.18 billion. Analysts currently expect earnings of $1.92 per share on revenues of $4.16 billion for the year.

Earlier, the company projected earnings of $1.85 per share with revenues of $4.10 billion for 2015.

EA closed Tuesday's trading at $37.48, up $0.61 or 1.65%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $1.02 or 2.72% in the after-hours trade.