Electronic Arts posts wider 4Q loss on charges

Furthermore, EA's Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said there are 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.

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.

"On balance, we're very pleased with our revenue growth, but not yet happy with our profit margins," said Chief Executive John Riccitiello in a statement.

The company had 15 titles that sold more than 2 million copies each during the year, up from 10 a year ago.

Brown, who rejoined EA last month to replace departing CFO Warren Jensen, called the quarter's results an "excellent finish to a record year." Pointing to the company's forecast to grow sales by more than $1 billion in the current fiscal year, Brown said "we don't need Take-Two to do that."

For the fiscal year ending next March, EA forecast earnings of 25 cents to 52 cents per share and adjusted earnings of $1.30 to $1.70 per share. Analysts predict a profit of $1.73 per share.

The company expects to record full-year revenue of $4.9 billion to $5.15 billion, or adjusted revenue of $5 billion and $5.3 billion. Wall Street expects sales of $4.59 billion.

In fiscal 2008, EA lost $457 million, or $1.45 per share, compared with a profit of $76 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $1.06 per share.

Analysts expected a profit of 94 cents a share.

Sales grew 19 percent to $3.67 billion. Adjusted revenue totaled $4.02 billion.

Analysts had forecast sales of $3.92 billion for the year.

The company said that, going forward, it will only provide guidance for the full year, updated each quarter.

This year, EA expects to launch about 30 games each for Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's XBox 360, and more than 20 for Nintendo's Wii.

EA's shares slid $1.77, or 3.2 percent, to $52.80 in after-hours electronic trading. The stock had closed up 30 cents at $54.57.