Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shares ticked higher in the extended session Wednesday, after the videogame publisher reported quarterly results and boosted its booking forecast for the year.
Take-Two shares
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rose 1.5% after hours, following a 0.1% in the regular session to close at $184.16.
“We experienced consistently strong engagement trends across our key franchises, underscoring the durability of our offerings and the deep relationships that we have established with new, existing, and returning players,” said Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s chairman and chief executive, in a statement.
“As a result of our better-than-expected second quarter operating results, along with our updated forecast for the balance of the year, we are raising our net bookings guidance for the year.”
Take-Two forecast fiscal third-quarter earnings of 85 cents to 95 cents a share on revenue of $840 million to $890 million and bookings of $800 million to $850 million, and $2.75 to $3 a share on revenue of $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion and bookings of $3.3 billion to $3.4 billion for the year.
Analysts had estimated third-quarter earnings of $1.16 a share on revenue of $813.2 million, and bookings of $909.3 million. For the year, analysts expect earnings of $4.63 a share, revenue of $3.34 billion and bookings of $3.42 billion.
For the fiscal second quarter, Take-Two reported net income of $10.3 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with $99.3 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to $858.2 million from $841.1 million in the year-ago quarter, while net bookings rose to $984.9 million from $957.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.35 a share, revenue of $786.9 million, and bookings of $873.2 million.
Take-Two publishes such videogame franchises as “Grand Theft Auto, and “Red Dead Redemption” under its Rockstar Games label, and “Borderlands” and “NBA2K” under its 2K label.
Last earnings report, Take-Two said it was delaying the release of two of its immersive core titles to later in 2022 to “polish” them. Later, the company said it was delaying updates of “Grand Theft Auto” by four months.
Shares of rival Activision Blizzard Inc.
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had their worst day in 13 years Wednesday after the publisher said it was delaying the release of two anticipated games by an unspecified amount of time.
Release delays have become much more common in the industry given last year’s embarrassingly buggy release of the long awaited “Cyberpunk 2077” from CD Projekt SA
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This post was originally published on Market Watch
