Electronic Arts beats on earnings, but comes up light on forecast

Electronic Arts Inc. shares swung between gains and losses Tuesday afternoon after the video game publisher exceeded earnings expectations but came up light on projections for the current quarter. EA reported net income of $440 million, or $1.40 a share, on sales of $1.27 billion; after adjustments for deferred revenue and other factors, EA reported earnings of 7 cents a share on sales of $682 million. Analysts expected an adjusted loss of 2 cents a share on sales of $651 million on average, according to FactSet. For the current quarter, in which EA will stop adjusting its financials for deferred revenue, the company projects a loss of 17 cents a share on sales of $915 million, while analysts on average expected revenue of $1.11 billion, according to FactSet. Later Tuesday afternoon, an EA spokesman emailed MarketWatch to say that the FactSet consensus was based on adjusted revenue, and that EA's adjusted forecast would be $1.08 billion, closer to analysts' projections. EA stock added 2%, then fell to a loss of 2% before settling closer to the closing price of $76.78 in late trading.

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