We Inspire the World to Play

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2018.

News and ongoing updates regarding EA and its games are available on EA’s blog at www.ea.com/news.

“It was a strong second quarter, as we entertained players with four high-quality new EA SPORTS games, hundreds of content updates in our live services, and esports programs that reached record viewership,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. “We’re incredibly excited to bring innovative new games like Battlefield V and Command & Conquer: Rivals to our players this holiday season, and launch our breakthrough new IP Anthem in February. We’re set to deliver some amazing new ways to play and compete through the rest of this fiscal year and beyond.”

“We’re pleased with the performance of our business through the second quarter, and particularly with the strong digital net bookings,” said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen. “We continue to deliver strong digital revenues across multiple platforms, business models and geographic territories.”

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics

• Digital net bookings* for the trailing twelve months was a record $3.608 billion, up 11% year-over-year and represents 69% of total net bookings.
• FIFA Mobile daily active players grew 50% year-over-year.
• The FIFA eWorld Cup Final was record setting, including a 4x increase in global viewership over last year, and more than 20 million players participating through the course of the FIFA 18 Global Series.
• The Sims™ 4 community downloaded nearly 30 million expansion packs life-to-date and monthly average players continue to grow year-over-year.
• FIFA 19 was critically-acclaimed as one of the best, most innovative FIFA games in the franchise, and NHL 19 was the highest-rated NHL game on current generation consoles.

* Net bookings is defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically in the period. Net bookings is calculated by adding total net revenue to the change in deferred net revenue for online-enabled games and, for periods after the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, mobile platform fees.

Selected Financial Highlights and Metrics

All financial measures are presented on a GAAP basis.

• Net cash from operating activities was $(126) million for the quarter and $1.458 billion for the trailing twelve months.
• EA repurchased 2.3 million shares for $299 million during the quarter and 7.2 million shares for $897 million during the trailing twelve months.

Impact of Recently Adopted Accounting Standard

At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Topic 606 significantly changes how EA recognizes and reports revenue and earnings per share; however, it does not materially impact net bookings, EA’s operational metric. For more information about the adoption of Topic 606, including information with respect to mobile platform fees, please refer to the Investor Accounting FAQ on our IR website. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

Quarterly Financial Highlights

While EA no longer reports certain non-GAAP financial measures, the following GAAP-based financial data and tax rate of 18% was used internally by company management to adjust its fiscal 2019 GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018.

TTM Financial Highlights

While EA no longer reports certain non-GAAP financial measures, the following GAAP-based financial data and tax rate of 18% in fiscal year 2019 and 21% in fiscal year 2018 was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Operating Metric

The following is a calculation of our total net bookings for the periods presented:

Business Outlook as of October 30, 2018

The following forward-looking statements reflect expectations as of October 30, 2018. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation to update these statements. Results may be materially different and are affected by many factors detailed in this release and in EA’s annual and quarterly SEC filings.

Fiscal Year 2019 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2019

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $5.150 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $270 million.
  • Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(220) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $962 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $3.11.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.650 billion.
• The Company estimates a share count of 309 million for purposes of calculating fiscal year 2019 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $5.200 billion.

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:

Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Expectations – Ending December 31, 2018

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.375 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $405 million.
  • Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(55) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $188 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.61.
• The Company estimates a share count of 306 million for purposes of calculating third quarter fiscal year 2019 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.725 billion.

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Conference Call and Supporting Documents

Electronic Arts will host a conference call on October 30, 2018 at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) to review its results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2018 and its outlook for the future. During the course of the call, Electronic Arts may disclose material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live through the following dial-in number 844-215-4106 (domestic) or 918-534-8313 (international), using the password “EA” or via webcast at EA’s IR Website at http://ir.ea.com.

EA has posted a slide presentation with a financial model of EA’s historical results and guidance and Investor Accounting FAQ on EA’s IR Website. EA will also post the prepared remarks and a transcript from the conference call on EA’s IR Website.

A dial-in replay of the conference call will be available until November 13, 2018 at 855-859-2056 (domestic) or 404-537-3406 (international) using pin code 4867728. An audio webcast replay of the conference call will be available for one year on EA’s IR Website.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements set forth in this release, including the information relating to EA’s fiscal 2019 expectations under the heading “Business Outlook as of October 30, 2018,” and other information regarding EA's fiscal 2019 expectations contain forward-looking statements that are subject to change. Statements including words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate”, “plan”, “predict”, “seek”, “goal”, “will”, “may”, “likely”, “should”, “could” (and the negative of any of these terms), “future” and similar expressions also identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and reflect management’s current expectations. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Some of the factors which could cause the Company’s results to differ materially from its expectations include the following: sales of the Company’s titles; the Company’s ability to develop and support digital products and services, including managing online security and privacy; the Company’s ability to manage expenses; the competition in the interactive entertainment industry; the effectiveness of the Company’s sales and marketing programs; timely development and release of Electronic Arts’ products; the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions; the consumer demand for, and the availability of an adequate supply of console hardware units; the Company’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing platforms; the Company’s ability to develop and implement new technology; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; general economic conditions; and other factors described in Part II, Item 1A of Electronic Arts’ latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q under the heading “Risk Factors”, as well as in other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.

These forward-looking statements are current as of October 30, 2018. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law. In addition, the preliminary financial results set forth in this release are estimates based on information currently available to Electronic Arts.

While Electronic Arts believes these estimates are meaningful, they could differ from the actual amounts that Electronic Arts ultimately reports in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2018. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these estimates prior to filing its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2018.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. EA has more than 300 million registered players around the world.

In fiscal year 2018, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $5.15 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as The Sims™, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Battlefield™, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™ and Plants vs. Zombies™. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

EA SPORTS, Battlefield, The Sims, Need for Speed, Dragon Age, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL and FIFA are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Topic 606 significantly changes how EA recognizes and reports revenue and diluted earnings per share. For more information about the adoption of Topic 606, including information with respect to mobile platform fees, please refer to the Investor Accounting FAQ on our IR website. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

Results (in $ millions, except per share data)

The following table reports the variance of the actuals versus our guidance provided on July 26, 2018 for the three months ended September 30, 2018 plus a comparison to the actuals for the three months ended September 30, 2017.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Topic 606 significantly changes how EA recognizes and reports revenue and diluted earnings per share. For more information about the adoption of Topic 606, including information with respect to mobile platform fees, please refer to the Investor Accounting FAQ on our IR website. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606) Revenue from Contracts with Customers. EA’s Q2 FY19 Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet reflects the effect of the adoption as of April 1, 2018, which had an impact on the following: receivables, net of allowances, accrued and other current liabilities, deferred net revenue (online-enabled games), deferred income taxes, net, retained earnings and accumulated other comprehensive loss. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

²Derived from audited consolidated financial statements.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Topic 606 significantly changes how EA recognizes and reports revenue and diluted earnings per share. For more information about the adoption of Topic 606, including information with respect to mobile platform fees, please refer to the Investor Accounting FAQ on our IR website. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

³The change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows does not necessarily equal the change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations primarily due to the impact of unrecognized gains/losses on cash flow hedges.

⁴Diluted earnings per share reflects the potential dilution from common shares (calculated using the treasury stock method), issuable through stock-based compensation plans. When the company incurs a loss, shares issuable through stock-based compensation plans are excluded from the diluted loss per share calculation as inclusion would be anti-dilutive.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606), Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Topic 606 significantly changes how EA recognizes and reports revenue and diluted earnings per share. For more information about the adoption of Topic 606, including information with respect to mobile platform fees, please refer to the Investor Accounting FAQ on our IR website. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

³The change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows does not necessarily equal the change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations primarily due to the impact of unrecognized gains/losses on cash flow hedges.

¹At the beginning of fiscal year 2019, April 1, 2018, EA adopted FASB ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606) Revenue from Contracts with Customers. EA’s Q1 and Q2 FY19 Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets reflect the effect of the adoption as of April 1, 2018, which had an impact on receivables, net of allowances. Financial data for periods prior to April 1, 2018 has not been restated.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181030006002/en/

Electronic Arts Inc.
Chris Evenden, 650-628-0255
Vice President, Investor Relations
cevenden@ea.com
or
John Reseburg, 650-628-3601
Vice President, Corporate Communications
jreseburg@ea.com

Source: Electronic Arts Inc.