EA revenue beats estimates thanks to 'Star Wars' and FIFA (EA)

Thomson Reuters

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts known for titles such as "FIFA" and "Star Wars Battlefront", reported first-quarter revenue that beat analysts' estimates, helped by higher downloads of its games.

The high-margin digital business, where players download digital versions of games, also helped EA post an adjusted profit for the quarter, compared with a loss that the company had forecast.

The company's shares rose 2.5 percent in extended trading on Tuesday.

"Our digital business drove this quarter, particularly outperformance from "FIFA Ultimate Team" on console and "Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes" on mobile," Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said in a statement.

EA's adjusted revenue fell 1.6 percent to about $682 million in the first quarter ended June 30. Analysts on average were expecting $650.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

On an adjusted basis, EA earned 7 cents per share. The company had forecast a loss of 5 cents per share.

Adjusted sales from EA's digital business rose 6.8 percent to about $568 million and accounted for 83.3 percent of total revenue.

EA forecast a loss of 17 cents per share and revenue of about $915 million for the current quarter.

Starting from this quarter, EA will stop reporting non-GAAP measures that adjust for deferred revenue, as it has done since fiscal 2008, to comply with stricter guidelines by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.