Zynga Reports Second Quarter Results and Beats Expectations

It was on Wednesday that mobile video game publisher Zynga reported second quarter financial results that exceeded expectations.

The San Francisco-based company said it made $73 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The company also said that bookings saw an increase of 61% YOY and hit $376 million. This was ahead of the $363 million that was expected. Zynga said it lost 6 cents a share in the second quarter while it had called for a loss of 7 cents earlier. Games such as Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons had strong performances. Words With Friends, Hit It Rich Slots, CSR2 and Zynga Poker were also strong performers.

We had great momentum in our live services,” said Zynga Chief Executive Frank Gibeau to Investor’s Business Daily. “The Merge Dragons and Empires & Puzzles games have been really growing quickly.”

“We saw such good results in the first half that we raised our annual guidance,” Gibeau said.

He said during the earnings call, “Our focus on driving recurring growth through steady release of innovative bold beats is working. Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons! both delivered record top line performances in the quarter as Empires & Puzzles repeatedly broke into the Top 5 U.S. Gross Gaming charts on Android and iOS.

While Merge Dragons! entered the Top 10 on Android in the Top 20 on iOS. Words With Friends achieved its best Q2 mobile revenue and bookings in franchise history, contributing to our highest Q2 advertising results ever. Celebrating its third anniversary CSR2 was a strong contributor in the quarter, driven by a series of Fast & Furious events.”

“Zynga Poker performed ahead of our expectations, as a new boost feature resulted in mobile revenue being flat sequentially and mobile bookings returning to sequential growth. Finally, from our Social Slots portfolio, Hit It Rich! Slots had a great quarter, delivering its best mobile revenue and bookings in over three years,” he added.

Looking ahead, the company expects 2019 bookings of $1.5 billion, up 55% year over year. Wall Street was expecting $1.47 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research.

“Through its first two months, the title is off to a great start with strong player engagement and monetization metrics,” Zynga said in a letter to investors. “We expect this title to steadily scale over the coming quarters as we continue to invest in its growth.”

Disclaimer: We have no position Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and have not been compensated for this article.
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