Electronic Arts Reports
Q1 FY24 Results
August 1, 2023
REDWOOD CITY, CA – August 1, 2023 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its first quarter ended June 30, 2023.
“EA delivered a record Q1, driven by strong momentum in EA SPORTS global football and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. “Our exceptional teams are creating innovative entertainment experiences across our multi-year pipeline, starting with the highly anticipated, culture defining titles Madden NFL 24 and EA SPORTS FC 24.”
"We had a strong start to the fiscal year, with net bookings growth of 21% year over year, highlighted by new releases, continued live services growth, healthy engagement, and new player acquisition,” said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. “Looking ahead, our teams remain focused on delivering long-term growth and profitability.”
Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics1
- Net bookings2 for Q1 was $1.578 billion, up 21% year-over-year (up 25% in constant currency).
- Live services and other net bookings for Q1 was $1.177 billion, up 4% year-over-year (up 7% in constant currency) and represented 75% of total net bookings.
- Our teams continue to execute across the business — launching five new high-quality releases, while providing over 145 content updates across 37 titles during the quarter.
- EA SPORTS FIFA net bookings growth accelerated year over year, delivering a record Q1 for the franchise, and further demonstrating the power and potential of a connected massive online community.
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launched to critical acclaim and commercial success. The game is entertaining millions of players around the world, and with multiple “best of 2023” list accolades, and a blockbuster story, we’re seeing players spend more time in-game than its predecessor.
Selected Financial Highlights and Metrics
- Net revenue was $1.924 billion for the quarter.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was $359 million for the quarter and $1.987 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 September 20, 2023 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 30, 2023.
Quarterly Financial Highlights
The following GAAP-based financial data3 and tax rate of 19% was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:
Trailing Twelve Months Financial Highlights
The following GAAP-based financial data3 and a tax rate of 19% was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results.
Operating Metric
The following is a calculation of our total net bookings2 for the periods presented:
Business Outlook as of August 1, 2023
Fiscal Year 2024 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2024
Financial 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 $947 million to $1.087 billion.
- Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $3.42 to $3.92.
- Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.700 billion to $1.850 billion.
- The Company estimates a share count of 277 million for purposes of calculating fiscal year 2024 diluted earnings per share.
Operational metric:
- Net bookings2 is expected to be approximately $7.300 billion to $7.700 billion.
In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data3 and long-term tax rate of 19% are used internally by EA to adjust GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:
Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Expectations – Ending September 30, 2023
Financial metrics:
- Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.825 billion to $1.925 billion.
- Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately ($125) million.
- Net income is expected to be approximately $197 million to $243 million.
- Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.72 to $0.89.
- The Company estimates a share count of 273 million for purposes of calculating second quarter fiscal 2024 diluted earnings per share.
Operational metric:
- Net bookings2 is expected to be approximately $1.700 billion to $1.800 billion.
In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data3 and long-term tax rate of 19% are used internally by EA to adjust GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:
Conference Call and Supporting Documents
Electronic Arts will host a conference call on August 1, 2023 at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) to review its results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2023 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 (888) 330-2446 (domestic) or (240) 789-2732 (international), using the conference code 5939891 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 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 August 15, 2023 at (800) 770-2030 (domestic) or (647) 362-9199 (international) using pin code 5939891. 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 expectations under the heading “Business Outlook as of August 1, 2023” and other information regarding EA's 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 products and services; the Company’s ability to develop and support digital products and services, including managing online security and privacy; outages of our products, services and technological infrastructure; the Company’s ability to manage expenses; the competition in the interactive entertainment industry; governmental regulations; the effectiveness of the Company’s sales and marketing programs; timely development and release of the Company’s products and services; the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits of, and integrate, 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; economic and geopolitical conditions; changes in our tax rates or tax laws; and other factors described in Part I, Item 1A of Electronic Arts’ latest Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors”, as well as in other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements are current as of August 1, 2023. 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 June 30, 2023. 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 June 30, 2023.
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.
In fiscal year 2023, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.4 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS FC™, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and F1®. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.
For additional information, please contact:
Katie Burke
Director, Investor Relations
650-628-7605
katieburke@ea.com
Erin Rheaume
Director, Financial Communications
650-628-7978
erheaume@ea.com
1 For more information on constant currency, please refer to the earnings slides available on EA’s IR Website.
2 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.
3 For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.
