Electronic Arts Posts 2Q Beat, But 3Q View Disappoints

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) delivered fiscal second-quarter results that beat the Street’s view and lifted its full-year outlook on Thursday afternoon, but its third-quarter guidance was still mostly lower than the Street’s view, prompting a selloff in after-hours trading.

The video-game publisher reported a loss of $340 million, or $1.03 a share, up from last  year’s second-quarter loss of $201 million, or 61 cents a share. When adjusted to exclude acquisition and restructuring charges, the company reported earnings of 5 cents a share, compared with year-ago adjusted earnings of 10 cents a share.

Revenue came in at $715 million, or $1.03 billion on an adjusted basis, compared with last year’s revenue of $631 million, or $884 million adjusted.

The results beat expectations, as analysts had predicted an adjusted loss of 5 cents a share on adjusted revenue of $964.78 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

For the fiscal third quarter, the software-maker forecast adjusted earnings in the range of 85 to 95 cents a share on adjusted revenue of $1.55 billion to $1.65 billion, in line with the Street’s forecast for earnings of 94 cents a share on revenue of $1.6 billion.

For the fiscal 2012, the company boosted its forecast and now expects adjusted earnings in the range of 75 cents to 90 cents a share on revenue between $4.05 billion to $4.20 billion. The Street had forecast 90 cents a share on revenue of $4.1 billion for fiscal 2012.

"EA had a strong quarter on the strength of FIFA 12, Madden NFL 12, and The Sims Social," said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, in a release. "Battlefield 3 is off to a fantastic start on sales and quality, and we are preparing to launch two more blockbusters: Need for Speed The Run, and Star Wars: The Old Republic."

The company boasted that its digital revenue was growing at 30% year-over-year. Net digital revenue rose to $234 million during the quarter, compared with $161 million in the second quarter of last year.

Shares of Electronic Arts rose 11 cents, or half of 1% in Thursday’s session to close at $24.50, before falling 4% after the results were announced.