Videogame Stock Round Up: Earnings & Sony’s Internal Restructuring In Focus

Earnings reports from Sony Corp (SNE – Analyst Report), Microsoft Corp (MSFT – Analyst Report) and Electronic Arts (EA – Analyst Report) dominated headlines this week. Apart from earnings, Sony was in the news with its announcement of consolidation of all of its PlayStation hardware, software and network operations under one roof — Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Among other smaller developments, EA pulled out of E3 to launch a separate event while Take Two Interactive Software (TTWO – Snapshot Report) signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE – Analyst Report) to produce more WWE themed titles. Video game retailer GameStop Inc (GME – Analyst Report) collaborated with game studio Insomniac to venture into the game publishing arena.

Top Stories this Past Week

1. Earnings:

Sony: Sony’s third-quarter fiscal 2015 GAAP earnings per share of ¥93.33 (78 cents), surged 21.3% from ¥76.96 in the prior-year quarter. However, net sales were  relatively flat at ¥2,238.7 billion ($18.7 billion). The Playstation business has emerged as a savior for Sony as most of its other divisions are facing a tough time. Sales and operating revenues of the Game & Network Services segment increased 10.5% year over year to ¥587.1 billion ($4,892 million) mainly on strong PS4 software and hardware unit sales. Sony has sold over 35 million PlayStation 4 units since its launch in Nov 2013.

Electronic Arts: EA reported third quarter fiscal 2016 adjusted earnings of $1.73, which easily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.70. Moreover, non GAAP revenues of $1,803 million also exceeded the Zacks Estimate of $1,801 million. Analysts observe despite Star Wars Battlefront selling over 13 million copies ahead of Mar 2016, as projected, the company provided a outlook that was below expectations, thus spooking investors. The title’s physical copies sold more than digital copies, contrary to expectations, proving to be a drag on the video game publisher’s margins. Shares plunged over 8% in the aftermarket.