Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) showed off its earnings numbers for the three months through June on Tuesday afternoon following the ringing of the bell on Wall Street. The company showed earnings of $0.19 per share for the three month period, which it refers to as its first quarter of fiscal 2015. Revenue for the period came to $775 million.
In the same three months of last year Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) showed off some rough numbers, with a 40 cent per share loss recorded for the slow first quarter of the year. In the period the company managed to bring in revenue totaling $495 million. Analysts following the company were expecting it to show a loss of 4 cents per share this afternoon according to a consensus estimate from Bloomberg. The same group saw revenue coming in at $714 million in the first quarter.
New generation brings new challenges for Electronic Arts
The Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) earnings report for the first quarter of 2013 was received with anxiety as analysts and investors wondered about the future of the console market. The rise of mobile gaming gave many pause about the likely results to expect from a new generation of home consoles. That anxiety, it now appears, was misplaced. Electronic Arts has benefited handsomely from the introduction of the new console generation.
Since the start of this year shares in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) have increased in value by more than 65%. The company’s future looked several degrees more lucrative after the earnings report it released in May. That report, which revealed that the company was the biggest earner from both of the new consoles, gave way to a massive increase in the value of the company’s shares overnight.
The new generation of games consoles is likely to bring challenges to Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) as the company tries to control costs in the face of rising development necessity. The firm is not just concentrating on the console world, however, and though that is still its most lucrative business segment, the company’s mobile efforts have given it some cushion from the vagaries of consoles.
Mobile mix keeping EA solid
One business that Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) has competitively excelled in in recent years is mobile. The company may not be pumping out hits like rival King, but it’s managed to show consistent success in the area, unlike other traditional video games makers. Companies like Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Ubisoft Entertainment SA (EPA:UBI) have concentrated on the console world while EA has managed to straddle the two effectively.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) is, despite the quarter to quarter weakness apparent in the numbers, still one of the strongest plays in gaming, and the company’s future is balanced between its console and mobile ambitions.
Competitor earnings reports are set to hit later on in the season, with Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and TakeTwo Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) being the most important names on the list. They will both report their numbers on August 5 after the market closes on Wall Street.
