Activision Blizzard Q4 Profit Tops Estimate; Revenue Falls Short

(RTTNews) - Video-game publisher Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) reported net income for the fourth quarter of $361 million or $0.49 per share, compared to $174 million or $0.22 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter were $0.94 per share, compared to $0.79 per share in the prior year quarter.

Revenue for the fourth quarter rose to $1.58 billion from $1.52 billion a year ago, while adjusted revenue for the quarter fell to $2.21 billion from $2.27 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.88 per share on revenue of $2.24 billion for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking forward to the first quarter, the company forecasts revenue of $1.14 billion, adjusted revenue of $640 million, earnings of $0.37 per share and adjusted earnings of $0.05 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.18 per share on revenue of $777.72 million for the first quarter.

For the calendar year 2015, the company forecasts revenue of $4.14 billion, adjusted revenue of $4.40 billion, earnings of $0.89 per share and adjusted earnings of $1.15 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.43 per share on revenue of $4.71 billion for the full year 2015.

The company also said that its Board of Directors has authorized a new two-year stock repurchase program under which the company is authorized to repurchase up to $750 million of its outstanding common stock during the period from February 9, 2015 through February 8, 2017.