Electronic Arts Reports Q4 and FY21 Financial Results

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2021.

“Our teams have done incredible work over the last year to deliver amazing experiences during a very challenging time for everyone around the world,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “With tremendous engagement across our portfolio, we delivered a record year for Electronic Arts. We’re now accelerating in FY22, powered by expansion of our blockbuster franchises to more platforms and geographies, a deep pipeline of new content, and recent acquisitions that will be catalysts for further growth.”

“EA delivered a strong quarter, driven by live services and Apex Legends’ extraordinary performance. Apex steadily grew through the last year, driven by the games team and the content they are delivering,” said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen. “Looking forward, the momentum in our existing live services provides a solid foundation for FY22. Combined with a new Battlefield and our recent acquisitions, we expect net bookings growth in the high teens.”

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics

• Net bookings1 for fiscal 2021 was $6.190 billion, up 15% year-over-year, and over $600 million above original expectations.
• Delivered 13 new games and had more than 42 million new players join our network during the fiscal year.
• FIFA 21, life to date, has more than 25 million console/PC players.
• FIFA Ultimate Team™ players grew 16% year-over-year and FUT matches were up 180%.
• Apex Legends™ has more than 100 million players life to date on console/PC, and Season 8 had more than 12 million weekly average players.
• Record number of new players joined Madden NFL on console/PC during fiscal 21.
• The Sims™ 4, life to date, has almost 36 million players and delivered its sixth consecutive year of franchise growth.

Selected Financial Highlights and Metrics

• Net cash provided by operating activities was $371 million for the quarter and $1.934 billion for the fiscal year.
• EA repurchased 2.4 million shares for $325 million during the quarter, bringing the total for the fiscal year to 5.6 million shares for $729 million.
• EA paid a cash dividend of $0.17 per share during the quarter.

Dividend

EA has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.17 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on June 23, 2021 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 2, 2021.

Quarterly Financial Highlights

The following GAAP-based financial data2 and tax rate of 18% was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:

Fiscal Year Financial Highlights

The following GAAP-based financial data2 and tax rate of 18% 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 bookings1 for the periods presented:

Business Outlook as of May 11, 2021

Our financial expectations for the first quarter ending June 30, 2021 and the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 include estimates of the impact of our recent acquisitions on consolidated results, including our acquisition of Glu Mobile on April 29, 2021. The GAAP and operating cash flow estimates could be materially impacted as we integrate these recent acquisitions.

Fiscal Year 2022 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2022

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $6.800 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $500 million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $390 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $1.34.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.750 billion.
• The Company estimates a share count of 292 million for purposes of calculating fiscal year 2022 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings1 is expected to be approximately $7.300 billion.

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data2 and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:

First Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Expectations – Ending June 30, 2021

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.475 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $(225) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $70 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.24.
• The Company estimates a share count of 291 million for purposes of calculating first quarter fiscal 2022 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings1 is expected to be approximately $1.250 billion.

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data2 and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our 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 May 11, 2021 at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) to review its results for the fiscal quarter and year ended March 31, 2021 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 (866) 324-3683 (domestic) or (509) 844-0959 (international), using the conference code 1076176 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 May 25, 2021 at 855-859-2056 (domestic) or 404-537-3406 (international) using pin code 1076176. 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 fiscal 2022 expectations under the heading “Business Outlook as of May 11, 2021,” and other information regarding EA's fiscal 2022 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: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 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; general economic conditions; changes in our tax rates or tax laws; and other factors described in Part II, Item 1A of Electronic Arts’ latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q under the heading “Risk Factors”, as well as in other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.

These forward-looking statements are current as of May 11, 2021. 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these estimates prior to filing its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.

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 2021, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $5.6 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™ and Plants vs. Zombies™. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

EA SPORTS, Ultimate Team, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Titanfall and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, and FIFA are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.

1 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.

2 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, 2020.

Results (in $ millions, except per share data)
The following table reports the variance of the actuals versus our guidance provided on February 2, 2021 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 plus a comparison to the actuals for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

1The change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows does not necessarily equal the change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations primarily due to the impact of unrecognized gains/losses on cash flow hedges.

In fiscal 2021, EA changed the way in which it presents net revenue. Periods prior to the first quarter of fiscal 2021 have been recast for comparability to align with these changes. For more information please see the Financial Reporting FAQ on our Investor Relations Website.

2Derived from audited consolidated financial statements.

1The change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows does not necessarily equal the change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations primarily due to the impact of unrecognized gains/losses on cash flow hedges.

In fiscal 2021, EA changed the way in which it presents net revenue. Periods prior to the first quarter of fiscal 2021 have been recast for comparability to align with these changes. For more information please see the Financial Reporting FAQ on our Investor Relations Website.

1The change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows does not necessarily equal the change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations primarily due to the impact of unrecognized gains/losses on cash flow hedges.

In fiscal 2021, EA changed the way in which it presents net revenue. Periods prior to the first quarter of fiscal 2021 have been recast for comparability to align with these changes. For more information please see the Financial Reporting FAQ on our Investor Relations Website.

Category: Company News

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