Electronic Arts Q2 FY3/2024 Financial Results (July - September 2023) | NFL and global football above forecasts, FC 24 over 14.5m accounts in 4 weeks

[MarcoP90]

https://s22.q4cdn.com/894350492/files/doc_financials/2024/q2/Q2-FY24-Earnings-Release-FINAL.pdf

Announcement of operating and financial highlights and metrics

“We delivered a strong Q2 and successfully launched EA SPORTS FC, transforming one of the largest franchises in the world into a powerful, interactive platform for the future of football fandom,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. “Looking ahead, our incredible teams will continue to innovate and expand across our world-class IP, building experiences that entertain our massive online communities, celebrate fandom, and increase connection for our growing global player base.”

“EA SPORTS strength, driven by new releases and ongoing live services, delivered Q2 results ahead of expectations,” said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. “We remain focused on delivering for our growing player communities and building upon the momentum across our portfolio, while prioritizing investments that execute against our largest opportunities to drive long term growth.”

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics

• Net bookings for Q2 was $1.820 billion, up 4% year-over-year (up 5% in constant currency).
• Live services and other net bookings for Q2 was $1.129 billion, up 1% year-over-year (up 2% in constant currency). On a trailing twelve-month basis, live services were 73% of our business.
• EA SPORTS Madden NFL franchise outperformed Q2 expectations, delivering net bookings growth of 6% year-over-year.
• EA SPORTS global football franchise outperformed Q2 expectations driven by the continued strength of EA SPORTS FIFA 23 and demand for the release of EA SPORTS FC 24.
• EA SPORTS FC 24, within the first four weeks of global launch, had over 14.5 million active accounts.

Selected Financial Highlights and Metrics

• Net revenue was $1.914 billion for the quarter.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $112 million for the quarterand $2.211 billion for the trailing twelve months.
• EA repurchased 2.6 million shares for $325 million during the quarter, bringing the total for the trailing twelve months to 10.5 million shares for $1.300 billion.

Dividend
EA has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on December 20, 2023 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 29, 2023.

Expectations for the rest of the Fiscal Year

Business Outlook as of November 1st, 2024

Fiscal Year 2023 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2024

Financial outlook metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $7.300 billion to $7.700 billion.
• No change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $1.118 billion to $1.273 billion.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $4.10 to $4.66.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.950 billion to $2.100 billion.
• The Company estimates a share count of 273 million for purposes of calculating fiscal year 2024 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metrics:

• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $7.300 billion to $7.700 billion.

A few slides from the Presentation

Net bookings by composition and by platform

Title slate for the FY3/2024

Results Presentation - https://s22.q4cdn.com/894350492/files/doc_financials/2024/q2/Q2-FY24-Earnings-Slides-FINAL.pdf
Official Electronic Arts Inc. IR website - https://ir.ea.com/home/default.aspx

Previous threads

FY3/2024

Q1 - https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/electronic-arts-fy24-q1.1835/

FY3/2023

Q2 - https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/electronic-arts-q2-fy3-2023-financial-results.1168/
Q3 - https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/electronic-arts-q3-fy3-2023-financial-results.1346/
Q4 - https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/electronic-arts-ea-q4-fy2023.1601/

 

[GodlyTrident]

MTX machine is crazy. At one point EA might be fully dependent on MTX.

 

[reksveks]

Still trying to parse the data.

- decent growth in general but it's a bit more interesting at the platform level
- down on pc and mobile a decent chunk
- up on console a good chunk and aligned to the xbox sw/content increased (so should see similar results for Sony excluding fx impacts)
- mtx % dropped this quarter but still in the 65%+ range.
- they specifically called out a %increase for madden but not for fifa/ea FC.

Going back to the previous year earnings release, I am going to assume that engagement in generally isn't that strong. That also changed the period for the number of players, 14.5m for the first 4 weeks vs 10.5m for the first week.