Tag: Media

Earnings Calendar Oct & Nov 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

 

As the weather here in the States gets colder, the last earnings season of 2018 is heating up. Which can mean only one thing of course: It’s calendar time!

 

See image above for a snapshot of the public companies planning on releasing results during the next couple of months, and below you can access in Google Doc form complete with investor relations links for further details.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Oct & Nov 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

Among the biggest story lines during this busy pre-holiday season include:

 

 

Hearing from Sony Corp $SNE on how Marvel’s Spider-Man, its fastest-selling exclusive game of the year with over 3.3 million units moved at launch in September, has impacted its gaming division and overall profitability.

 

 

Perhaps a hint from Take-Two Interactive $TTWO on early sales for Red Dead Redemption 2, hands down its largest and most important release from its flagship studio Rockstar Games, makers of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

 

 

Contributions to Apple Inc $AAPL results from its latest iPhone models, XS and XS Max, perhaps even an early indication of consumer demand for the iPhone XR, which went up for pre-order last week.

 

 

As you’ll see, there are some companies that haven’t revealed dates yet so please check back soon for updates on the remaining names. Thanks for stopping by!

 

-Dom

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, NASDAQ.

Earnings Calendar Jul & Aug 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

 

Better late than never, right!

 

Above and below are my usual handy quarterly calendars for which notable companies within the gaming, media and technology spaces are reporting fancy figures and newfangled numbers. Except for some stragglers that like to either not tell us until the last minute, or are a couple weeks out still.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Jul & Aug 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

This will be a quick one today, I’ll be spicing it up way more on Twitter as these figures come in over the upcoming weeks. Thank you very much for checking in this quarter, feel free to drop me a line here or there!

 

-Dom

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, Google.

Earnings Calendar Apr & May 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

Updated: 4/24/2018

 

Hi all. It’s time again for some numbers. Well let’s be honest, for a whole lot of numbers!

 

Our quarterly celebration of numerical values, financial performance and corporate updates is upon us as the latest earnings season is now underway. We will see most gaming, media and technology-related companies report results in the next few weeks then a handful of stragglers later on down the line.

 

To help guide through this particular season, I’ve compiled the usual calendar with dates and investor links in case you want to track these sorts of events individually. I’ll update it above and below at the Google Docs link as the last few come in with official dates.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Apr & May 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

As for notable results to watch this quarter, here are three I’m watching:

 

 

Facebook Inc ($FB): Wednesday, April 25th

 

To say that Facebook and its wunderkind CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been in the spotlight lately is an understatement, with its latest data scandal and questions on the privacy of its user information. Financially, the company beat analyst estimates last quarter and I expect its results will be consistently strong again, so I’m more interested in how Zuckerberg and his fellow executives answer tough questions on its conference call with analysts rather than the underlying figures themselves.

 

 

 

Capcom Co Ltd ($9697): Tuesday, May 8th

 

The Japanese publisher has a huge hit on its hands in January’s Monster Hunter: World, which at last count has moved over 7.5 million units to become the best-selling individual release in the company’s storied history (not accounting for re-releases, re-makes etc). Since this is the first quarter where this massively successful title will contribute to sales, I’m very interested to hear about what kind of growth Capcom sees and also whether its financial outlook changes based on these stellar shipment numbers for its latest flagship title.

 

 

 

Ubisoft Entertainment SA ($UBI): Thursday, May 17th

 

This will be the first time French developer and publisher Ubisoft announces results since news that Vivendi has divested its stake in the company, putting to bed any rumors of a potential acquisition by the French media conglomerate. Separately, as I’ve said before and I’ll say again, Ubi has been doing exceptionally well in terms of both releasing new games and supporting its older titles. It released Far Cry 5 in late March, and at least one analyst estimates it sold 5 million units right after release to become the second largest launch in the firm’s history. Ubisoft also shared that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege has eclipsed 30 million players since it came out nearly 3 years ago, one of many examples of how the firm is generating ongoing revenue to invest in upcoming projects. It’s a good time to be either a fan, or a stakeholder, or both!

 

 

 

Thanks all for visiting, and for checking back in if you bookmark this page for future updates!

 

-Dom

 

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, CNBC, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, Boursier.

Earnings Calendar Jan & Feb 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

 

Hello friends and folks, it’s that time again!

 

The quarterly earnings season is upon us, during which time public companies bless fellow financial nerds and the investing public with a bevy of numbers, charts, tables plus all manner of corporate terminology to describe how business is faring. Sift through the technical jargon and biz-speak and I guarantee there’s interesting information to be gathered and crucial indicators that reveal a company’s health individually and within its broader industry.

 

As always, I’ve got you covered on a lineup of earnings dates for games, tech and media firms through the next few weeks. Bookmark this page and use the image above or the link below, as I’ll periodically update both once some of the stragglers start announcing firm dates.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Jan & Feb 2018: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

Lastly, here are three big names I’m following closely this season. Thank you as always for reading!

 

 

 

Nintendo $NTDOY (Wed 1/31): Yes, I’ve listed Japan’s Nintendo as a company to watch every single quarter. But that’s because it continues to be the most innovative and noteworthy of all companies in its industry, whether hardware maker or software publisher. It boasts the hottest product in gaming and one of the must-have gadgets right now in the Switch, which has sold-through 10 million consoles to consumers in around nine months on sale. And it recently announced crazy, cardboard construction “kits” in a line of products dubbed Nintendo Labo which is so outlandish that it just might work enough to impact its future guidance. Expect Nintendo to have its best annual results since the tail end of the Wii’s popularity almost a decade ago.

 

Analysts: Nintendo is reporting both Q4 2017 and full-year results. Consensus is it will generate sales of ¥433 billion ($3.89 billion) for Q4, which would be up more than 150% year-on-year, though earnings-per-share will decline 30% to ¥373 ($3.36). On the year, analysts see revenue of  ¥1.01 trillion ($9.09 billion) and ¥953 ($8.42) in earnings-per-share, which would be increases of 108% and 12% respectively. Needless to say, count me as among those who think Nintendo will beat these numbers.

 

 

Apple $AAPL (Thu 2/1): Though Apple normally doesn’t break out revenue or unit sales by each of its products within each product category (iPhone, iPad, etc), I’m hoping it can *hint* at a bit of granularity for iPhone sales in light of its high-end iPhone X release back in November plus recent reports of production adjustments for its high-end smart phone. Even so: When it seems like the market is completely and utterly saturated, Apple continues to have impressive sales and earnings beats, so I vow to never, ever underestimate it.

 

Analysts: For Apple’s first quarter 2018 fiscal, analysts forecast almost $86 billion in quarterly sales and around $3.80 in earnings per share. Up 10% and 13% over last year, respectively.

 

 

 

 

NVIDIA $NVDA (Thu 2/8): Next week, the world’s hottest graphics card manufacturer (and crytpo-currency mining catalyst) NVIDIA will reveal both its final quarter and full-year 2018 results. And I fully anticipate it will continue its streak of record results driven by both gaming and, yes, our beloved bitcoin. The company’s stock surged almost 87% last year, and is up another 28% in January alone, and yet I still think it has room to grow. I see almost limitless earnings potential in the current environment where demand is sky-high, as many have learned when checking prices on its products while trying to build a powerful new gaming computer. As long as it can keep up with production, which I believe it absolutely will in the short to medium term, NVIDIA will continue its extraordinary run.

 

Analysts: Estimates are for $2.66 billion in quarterly revenue, earning $1.30 or so a share. Both would boast double-digit growth rates since the same time last year. As for its annual sales, consensus is $9.5 billion in revenue (up almost 37%), with earnings growing even faster at a rate of 48% to $4.52. I have to check historically, but I believe this would be a record year for the company overall. Stay tuned for an update.

 

Updated: 1/30/2018

 

-Dom

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, CNN, NASDAQ, Bloomberg.

Working Casual 2017 Year-In-Review: Over-Review

DomsPlaying

 

Hello all!

 

It’s been.. let’s call it.. an “interesting” year. Despite my writing output obviously declining, and the current state of the geopolitical climate (which is something I don’t critique or comment on here), it’s actually been one of the best in recent memory in terms of video games and the technology surrounding the medium. 2017 has seen both Nintendo and Microsoft release a new console, innovation in the augmented/virtual reality and mobile spaces, a stellar year for video game stocks plus some of the best darn games of this entire generation if not ever. Gamers and techies have been treated to an awesome 12 months, admittedly if only within our immediate “bubble.”

 

In celebration of the past year, I’ll now round up my thoughts on some of its most important topics and products, similar to last year’s pieces. I’ll update this post throughout the next week, as I cover the following:

 

Dom’s Top 10 Video Games of the Year

 

Top 5 Influential Gaming, Tech & Media Companies of the Year

 

Top 3 Impactful Deals or Mergers of the Year

 

Best & Worst-Performing Gaming, Media & Tech Stocks

 

 

If you participate (or participated) any of the year-end celebrations, I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a happy, healthy holiday season and a very Happy New Year into 2018. But it’s not over just yet, so stay tuned!

 

-Dom

Earnings Calendar Oct & Nov 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

 

Hi everyone!

 

As you can see, I’ve taken a bit of a break but I’m back for my latest earnings calendar post so we can all prepare to see how companies in the gaming, media and tech spaces are performing lately. Q4 performance tends to be an important indicator of how companies are faring against full-year estimates, since it’s usually the half-way mark for a fiscal year. And it’s especially telling if companies start to adjust guidance.

 

I’ve posted the calendar above with the most current dates available, and the link below takes you to the usual Google Docs location to use it as a reference:

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Oct & Nov 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

Some of the noteworthy results incoming within the next month:

 

 

Amazon $AMZN (Thu 10/26): The world’s largest online retailer by market capitalization recently closed its acquisition of Whole Foods back in August, so we should see the early impact of the deal on its overall business plus future guidance. Plus Amazon’s tone and guidance are always a good barometer of consumer sentiment going into the holiday season, which is of course the most important time of year for the online retailer especially as most holiday shoppers still tend to favor brick-and-mortar stores (for some odd reason.. embrace the digital revolution, folks!).

 

 

Nintendo $NTDOY (Mon 10/30): The Big N’s Switch hybrid console has even more sales momentum than I initially thought. It’s been the best-selling console in the States for the past 3 months according to NPD Group, and has moved over 1.5 million units in its home country of Japan to date. The firm’s stock is up a whopping 91% return since Switch’s launch in early March. Friend of the blog and analyst Daniel Ahmad says its worldwide total is likely around 7 million units by now, which means it’s well on its way to the 11 million in its 1st year that I predicted back in April and will likely even surpass that total. We’ll hear exactly how many have shipped in a little over a week, and exactly how much it’s contributed to the firm’s bottom line.

 

 

Samsung Electronics (Tue 10/31) and Apple Inc $AAPL (Thu 11/2): You could argue that the financial results of two of the world’s largest smart device manufacturers are always important to gauge how the global economy is doing plus how people are spending their discretionary income, but this quarter will be especially interesting for both as Samsung released its Galaxy S8 in April and its larger Galaxy Note 8 in September and Apple will provide current figures on overall iPhone shipments plus more guidance on its iPhone 8 which came out about a month back.

 

 

Ubisoft Entertainment SA $UBI (Tue 11/7): France’s Ubisoft has been on a tear this year when it comes to its lineup of games: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, For Honor, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and even 2015’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege have all spent time on the best-sellers list across a variety of regions. In fact, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is actually the best-selling game of the year in the States as of late August, and For Honor holds the 4th spot on that coveted list. And Ubi isn’t done yet for the year, releasing South Park: The Fractured But Whole just this past week plus its triple-A holiday title Assassin’s Creed Origins later this month. The company also has been making efforts to remain independent from ownership of outside parties, namely Vivendi $VIV, by buying back shares and opening new studios so I anticipate its results will remain solid if not beat to the upside.

 

 

Thanks as always and I hope you stay tuned for commentary here and on Twitter during this earnings season!

 

-Dom

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, NPD Group, Business Wire, Daniel Ahmad.

Earnings Calendar Jul & Aug 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying1 Comment

 

Welcome back friends! Time to get excited for numbers, and charts, and graphs. Lots of ’em.

 

This post is a little later than usual as the “quarterly earnings season” is already well underway, but there’s still plenty of companies within tech and gaming that have yet to announce how their business have been faring during the past few months.

 

Per usual, above you’ll see a full calendar of public companies and the dates on which earnings results are posted. Then below is a link to a Google Doc containing this same information for easy access to investor relations websites for your viewing pleasure.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Jul & Aug 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

Some companies on my radar this quarter are as follows:

 

Amazon $AMZN: The massive online retailer based in the States announced its whopping $13.7 billion acquisition of grocer Whole Foods $WFM in June, so it may provide some sort of update on the status of this deal when it reports this Thursday, July 27th. The deal itself is a key development in the retail space as it cross over between digital and brick-and-mortar sellers, however that’s part of the reason it’s under continued scrutiny from the U.S. government and no formal approval has been given thus far.

 

 

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. $TTWO: The owner of studios Rockstar and 2K Games has seen growth lately based on the ongoing success of Grand Theft Auto V, in particular its online component. However, GTAV released all the way back in 2013, plus Take-Two doesn’t have any triple-AAA game releases this year now that Rockstar’s widely-anticipated Western Red Dead Redemption 2 was delayed. In an interview recently with GamesIndustry Biz, CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged the thin release schedule and commented that ideally the company would release more big titles on a regular basis. I don’t think we’ll hear much in terms of RDR2 status other than it’s still in the development phase, but the company needs to reassure investors that its line-up can support big gaps between Rockstar’s heavy-hitting games.

 

 

Activision Blizzard $ATVI: Activision Blizzard reports on Thursday, August 3rd and is in arguably the best position this year of all the major worldwide video game publishers. Blizzard’s multiplayer hero shooter Overwatch continues its widespread appeal more than a year after release, surpassing 30 million registered players and transitioning to a viable eSports franchise with the announcement of the Overwatch League this month. The company’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, released in late June, is vastly exceeding expectations as it was the best-selling game in the world during its release month. Not to mention upcoming releases, where Activision boasts two games with huge upside that I believe will end up in the Top 5, if not Top 3, games by sales this year: (the Game of the Year contender and what might be the best game this generation if it was up to me, hah) Destiny 2, out September 6th, and Call of Duty: WWII, releasing on November 3rd. Oh, and it also now has fully integrated King Digital into its structure so it has significant mobile exposure too.

 

 

Vivendi SA $VIV: Lastly, as I’ve noted in the past, whenever French media firm Vivendi reports, there’s the potential it could formally announce a bid to purchase Ubisoft Entertainment SA $UBI, which has already reported stellar results itself for its last fiscal year. As of Vivendi’s latest annual report, it now owns 26.8% of Ubisoft’s outstanding shares, meaning that my prediction the acquisition will not happen anytime soon less and less likely by the quarter.

 

 

Thanks as always for checking out the calendar and my thoughts on some of the companies on the list. Any announcements you’re looking forward to in particular? Will the publisher of your most-anticipated game this year

 

 

-Dom

 

Sources: Company Investor Relations Websites/Press Releases, MarketWatch, GamesIndustry Biz, Business Wire.

Earnings Calendar Apr & May 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying

 

Updated 5/15/2017

 

It’s “earnings season” again, and you know what that means! Time to get geared up with an updated calendar covering the usual gaming, media and tech companies. This particular part of the year is especially interesting and important, as many companies end their fiscal years in March and will be reporting both quarterly and annual figures.

 

As always, the image above shows you a number of relevant dates for this earnings season. Feel free to save or share, or if you’d like to view this in Google Doc form where it’s easier to access the links, check it out below.

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Apr & May 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

 

As I mentioned, this time of year is always super important since full-year figures are provided, and then forecasts are given by companies on their upcoming fiscal years. Aka even more data than usual!

 

Within gaming, the “Big Three” console hardware manufacturers will all be presenting annual earnings within the next week: Microsoft $MSFT and Nintendo $NTDOY on April 27th then Sony $SNE on April 28th.

 

Out of these, I’m certainly most interested in hearing from Nintendo. Of course. It’s the first earnings release after the Nintendo Switch hybrid console launched in early March, and we will now know how many units were actually shipped/sold and also its early contribution to profit. Indications are that the Switch is doing quite well. Originally, the company said it would ship 2 million Switches in its initial roll-out, and according to NPD Group, 906K of those were sold in the United States during March. For some context, that’s more than the legendary Wii console sold during its launch month, and that console went on to sell over 100 million units. I’m not saying that the Switch will sell close to that in the long-run, but early on it’s certainly showing strong demand.

 

There have even been quotes as high as 2.4 million Switches being sold worldwide, per SuperData Research, so we’ll know for sure come next week how many fit into the time frame leading up to the end of March and more importantly, how these hardware sales and software like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are contributing to its bottom line.

 

 

As for other notable companies on the list, both Alphabet (Google) $GOOG and Samsung Electronics numbers come in next week, then the largest company on the planet, Apple $AAPL, will present on May 2nd. All will be quarterly reports.

 

Both Samsung and Apple will be sharing ongoing sales stats of their flagship smartphones of course, including the iPhone 7 which launched in September, and it will be worth watching Samsung especially to see how much financial impact from the Note 7 debacle. I expect it was much worse from a PR standpoint than it was on its profits, personally, since the Note series doesn’t contribute as much as other products. Note that Samsung launched its Galaxy S8 smartphone line today, so sales there will be reflected next quarter.

 

 

Rounding out reports during May will be a couple of European companies, in particular Vivendi $VIV and Ubisoft Entertainment $UBI. I mentioned these two side-by-side as we haven’t heard much about the former’s ownership stake in the latter for a number of months now. At last measure, Vivendi owned 25.15% of Ubisoft, which signaled to some analysts that a hostile takeover was upcoming. Personally, I don’t know if that’s a battle Vivendi wants to fight right now, especially as Ubisoft strengthens with two of the best-selling games this year in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands and For Honor. I don’t expect a takeover to happen just yet.

 

Note that there are still some companies that haven’t announced dates yet, including Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings, Japanese game makers Sega Sammy and Square Enix plus noted domestic publisher Take-Two Interactive $TTWO, so I will update accordingly when we hear from them.

 

Any companies on the list that you’re keeping an eye on? Did I miss any? Are you as excited as I am (you should be!)? Let me know, and thanks for checking in!

 

Sources: Each of the companies listed, Google Finance, NPD Group, SuperData Research

 

Disclaimer: I have owned Intel Corp $INTC stock in the past. As always, this is not a recommendation to invest in any companies but used for informative and analytical purposes.

 

-Dom

Earnings Calendar Jan & Feb 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

DomsPlaying2 Comments

 

Here we have the first “earnings season” of 2017 for gaming, media and technology stocks, and just like last quarter, I’m right here to map out the schedule so you can keep up-to-date with all sorts of fun, interesting financial results. Why else would you be here!

 

As usual, above I’ve compiled a list of numerous companies that are reporting results this quarter. Since it’s the beginning of a new year, some will even report full-year figures from their latest fiscal years. Bonus content!

 

Below is also a Google Docs link you can use as a reference, in particular if you want to check out a company’s Investor Relations website as I’ve listed each alongside company name and ticker:

 

Updated 2/6/2017: More companies and dates are present

 

Working Casual Earnings Calendar Jan & Feb 2017: Gaming, Media & Tech Companies

 

A couple higlights include Nintendo $NTDOY having its first earnings meeting since formally revealing its newest console, the Nintendo Switch. Might hear some sales expectations if we’re lucky.

 

This is also the first earnings release for Time Warner $TWX after announcing it will be acquired by AT&T $T. Might be some further guidance on this deal and its timetable, as it was one of the largest acquisitions announced in 2016.

 

And lastly, we’ll see if Vivendi $VIV provides more information on its ownership stake in publisher Ubisoft Entertainment SA $UBI. At last count, Vivendi owned more than 25% of Ubisoft, which has pundits thinking a hostile takeover is fast-approaching.

 

Before I go, note that a handful of companies like Alibaba, Netflix, Samsung and Verizon and have reported already earlier this month, so going forward I’ll shoot to have this article up a bit earlier. Apologies, but hey we’ve got plenty of earnings season left to enjoy. Let me know if you are looking forward to any resutls in particular, or if I missed any you might want to see on the list. Thanks!

 

-Dom

2016 Year-In-Review: Best & Worst-Performing Gaming, Media & Tech Stocks

DomsPlaying1 Comment

 

Overall for 2016, the global stock market saw gains of 5.3%, as measured by the MSCI World Index, and U.S. stocks were up around 9.5% as measured by the S&P 500 Index.

 

Focusing on individual stocks within gaming, media and technology, the following are the five best and worst-performing stocks for the calendar year within these segments of the global market. You’ll see that chip-maker AMD and graphics card manufacturer NVIDIA performed the best, while fledgling accessory maker Mad Catz and social media provider Twitter tumbled.

 

2016’s Best-Performing Gaming, Media & Tech Stocks

 

 

2016’s Worst-Performing Gaming, Media & Tech Stocks

Sources: Google Finance, Company Websites and iStock Photos.

-Dom