Electronic Arts Reports Solid Quarterly Financials

Electronic Arts reported quarterly earnings that beat analyst estimates on Tuesday but offered smaller-than-expected guidance for the important Christmas quarter.

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The maker of video games reported $711 million in revenue during its fiscal second quarter, down from $715 million. It recorded a loss of $381 million compared with a loss of $340 million a year ago. On a per-share basis and excluding items, EA earned 15 cents while analysts expected only 11 cents.

The company's guidance of up to $1.35 billion in the current quarter was about $300,000 shy of what analysts were expecting.

Digital revenue rose 39 percent to $324 million as "record numbers of players" engaged in online features and content downloads for FIFA 13, Madden NFL 13 and Battlefield, said EA president Frank Gibeau.

FIFA and Battlefield, Gibeau added, "are the two biggest revenue events in our company's history. Both are well on their way to becoming billion-dollar annual franchises."

Other highlights during the quarter include The Simpsons: Tapped Out being a top-grossing iOS game for four weeks straight and the No. 1 application in 54 countries, logging a record-high 2.8 million daily active users.