Electronic Arts Inc. EA -2.47% said better-than-expected sales of new videogame consoles has helped to increase sales at a more rapid pace than it expected, powering increased profits along the way.
The videogame maker, known for its "Madden NFL" franchise of football games, said it would commit $750 million to a share buyback plan following upticks in its results.
" Sony 6758.TO -0.55% and Microsoft MSFT -0.94% sold more boxes than we thought they would, and our marketshare has been better than we thought it would be," said Blake Jorgensen, EA's chief financial officer.
The company said its profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31 rose nearly 14% to $367 million, or $1.15 a share, from $323 million, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier. Revenue, however, dropped slightly to $1.12 billion from $1.21 billion in the year-earlier period.
Adjusting for items such as deferred revenue and stock-based compensation, the company recorded per-share earnings of 48 cents, on revenue of $914 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on average had been expecting per-share earnings of 11 cents on revenue of $812 million.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects to record an adjusted loss of 5 cents a share in its fiscal first quarter ending June 30, on $700 million in revenue, ahead of analyst expectations.
For the year, EA said it expects adjusted per-share earnings of $1.85, far above analyst expectations of $1.52. Revenue is expected to be $4.1 billion, roughly in line with estimates.
Highlighted and underlined the important line in the report. Still waiting for the conference call to get a breakdown of titanfall etc, but the 30 cent above consensus for this year seems quite impressive, the stock is up 15% after hours
