EA Exceeds by a Dime

Updated from 5:12 p.m. EST

Second-quarter revenue and earnings slipped at Electronic Arts (ERTS), but the company far exceeded the Street's expectations.

However, after the bell Tuesday, the video game-software publisher gave an especially cautious outlook for the holiday season.

The company's guidance reflects the shifting of the release dates of some of its games, company CFO Warren Jenson said in an interview with TheStreet.com; EA moved up the release of its FIFA Soccer title to the second quarter from the third quarter, for example.

But the outlook also incorporates the company's caution about holiday spending in North America after the industry experienced soft spending in October, he said.

"There are a lot of good things in the market around our space. That speaks positively for the industry's prospects in the holiday season," Jenson said. But he dubbed the October results as a clear "cautionary note."

Investors seemed to find more positive than negative in EA's report. In recent after-hours exchanges, the company's stock was up 86 cents, or 1.5%, to $56.65.

In the quarter ended Sept. 30, EA earned $51 million, or 16 cents a share, on $675 million in sales. Those results compared unfavorably with the year-ago period when the company earned $97 million, or 31 cents a share, on $716 million in sales.

Excluding certain charges such as those for amortization and stock-based compensation, the company would have earned $46 million, or 15 cents a share.

The results blew through the Street's estimates and the company's own outlook. On a pro forma basis, analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting the company to post a profit of 4 cents a share for the just-completed quarter on $632 million in sales.

The company, meanwhile, had forecast a bottom line ranging from break-even to a profit of 5 cents a share on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis on sales ranging from $600 million to $630 million.