EA shares close up, fall after 4Q earnings report released

Shares had closed up 30 cents at $54.57, but were down $1.57, or 2.9 percent, to $53 after the company said their fourth-quarter loss widened.

Redwood City, Calif.-based EA posted a loss of $94 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a loss of $25 million, or 8 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Results were helped by strong sales of "Army of Two," "Burnout Paradise" and "Rock Band," the popular music stimulation game EA co-publishes with MTV Games.

Excluding the effects of deferred revenue for online-enabled games, stock options costs and other items, EA earned $30 million, or 9 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31.

Revenue jumped 84 percent to $1.13 billion from $613 million. Excluding a benefit from the recognition of deferred revenue, the quarter's sales were $919 million.

Analysts, on average, expected EA to break even on a per-share basis with sales of $834.8 million, excluding items, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Furthermore, EA's Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said there were no new developments in the company's $2 billion bid to buy "Grand Theft Auto" publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. EA's tender offer of $25.74 per share expires on Friday. Take-Two has said the price is too low.

"We note that EA's offer expires on May 16, so we expect a resolution one way or another by the end of the week," Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who rates EA "Strong Buy," wrote in a note to investors. "We do not expect a competing offer from other parties, and think EA is serious about its intention to withdraw this offer if the parties remain too far apart."

New York-based Take-Two's shares slid 30 cents to to close at $26.59.