Analysts mixed on EA financials

Analysts Michael Pachter and Colin Sebastian have released their expectations ahead of Electronic Arts' financial end of year release later today, with some variance in their expectations for the publishing giant's Q4, 2009 results.

Wedbush Morgan's Pachter has estimated that the company's revenues for the three months to the end of March this year will hit USD 669 million, while Lazard Capital's Sebastian predicts USD 627 million, slightly under the consensus figure of USD 633 million.

However, while both analysts agree that earnings per share should hit 42 cents, the company is expected to incur significant costs in the quarter due to restructuring and cost-cutting, with the situation looking brighter off a fuller release schedule at the start of the 2010 financial year.

"Release momentum hits its stride with spring line-up" wrote Sebastian. "While management may elect not to provide quarterly guidance, we continue to believe Q1 (June) and Q2 (September) will benefit from a robust release line-up. Our above consensus Q1 revenue and loss per share estimates are USD 680 million and 18 cents respectively."

Pachter also noted his Q1 guidance is well above consensus expectations for revenue of USD 653 million and loss per share of 22 cents, with estimated revenue of USD 756 million and a loss per share of 17 cents

EA's release schedule in that quarter includes The Sims 3, Harry Potter, Fight Night Round 4, The Godfather 2, EA Sports Active, Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods, the last two of which will launch alongside Nintendo's new Wii Motion Plus technology.