Activision Blizzard, Seeing Higher Gaming Demand During Pandemic, Raises Annual Guidance -- Earnings Review

By Maria Armental

Activision Blizzard Inc., the company behind gaming franchises like Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft, again raised financial projections for the year, following stronger-than-expected second-quarter results driven by higher engagement amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here's what you need to know:

PROFIT: Net income rose to $580 million, or 75 cents a share, from $328 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, profit rose to 81 cents a share from 53 cents a share a year earlier. The company projected 54 cents a share, or 64 cents a share on an adjusted basis.

REVENUE: Revenue rose to $1.93 billion from $1.4 billion a year earlier, above the company's forecast of $1.69 billion.

BOOKINGS: Activision reported $2.08 billion in net bookings for the June quarter, compared with $1.21 billion for the comparable period a year earlier.

MAU: The company reported 428 million monthly active users.

OUTLOOK: The company now expects $2.46 a share in profit this year, or $2.87 a share on an adjusted basis, on $7.28 billion in revenue. It earlier projected $2.22 a share in profit, or $2.62 a share on an adjusted basis, on $6.8 billion in revenue. Net bookings are now expected to be about $7.63 billion, up from its earlier view of about $6.9 billion.

PANDEMIC: Company officials have pointed to uncertainty about the business impact but said higher demand has helped results thus far and that they expect to launch major new content into key franchises in the second half of the year, "creating the opportunity for strong financial performance."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2020 16:19 ET (20:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.