EA shares dip after second-quarter outlook falls short
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Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) shares dipped into the red in after-hours trading, Tuesday, as the videogame publisher posted fiscal first-quarter earnings that were mostly in line with expectations, but also issued an outlook for the current quarter below analyst consensus.
EA (EA) said that for its fiscal second quarter, it's expecting net bookings of $1.725B to $1.775B, while analysts had previously forecast the company's bookings to come in at $1.87B. EA (EA) also said it expects to earn 78 cents to 86 cents a share, and net income of $220M to $242M.
For its first quarter, EA (EA) said net bookings landed at $1.3B, a decline of 3% from a year ago. Still, those results were better than expected, which the company credited to its FIFA soccer game franchise and the successful launch of F1.

EA (EA) said its first-quarter net income rose to $311M from $204M a year ago, and net revenue grew to $1.767B from $1.55B in the first quarter of 2011. Deferred net revenue of also increased from a year ago.,
Meanwhile, the EA player network grew to nearly 600M active accounts at quarter-end. Among other highlights, FIFA Ultimate Team engagement rose nearly 40%, both in terms of weekly and daily average players, and FIFA Mobile delivered record net bookings and record daily active users that rose 10% from EA's (EA) fiscal fourth quarter.
Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said EA's (EA) strong results showed "our growing player network deeply engaged in new games and live services. Wilson added that the EA SPORTS portfolio and IP franchises "continue to power resilience and longevity in our business."
For the fiscal year, EA (EA) reaffirmed its guidance if net bookings of $7.9B to $8.1B, in line with expectations for $8B, and for net earnings per share of $2.79 to $2.87 and operating cash flow of $1.6B to $1.65B.
Conference call to come at 5 p.m. ET.