Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) stock was down 1% in early afternoon trading on September 10. Shares are down 16.6% over the past three months. The stock has suffered following the announcement that the Battlefield V release would be delayed until November 20. This is in the interest of preventing a clash with the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, a Rockstar property that is expected to generate massive sales.
This will also give the game breathing room of a month as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be released on October 12. This is the largest market competitor in the genre. Officially DICE, the developer of the Battlefield franchise, and EA are making tweaks to its multiplayer before its debut. EA was forced to swallow significant disappointments with its release of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Battlefield 4. It is looking to avoid bad press and consumer reaction this time around.
EA stock is still up 9.3% in 2018 so far. In the first quarter of fiscal 2019 EA’s earnings were powered by the performance of its FIFA properties.
This is no surprise considering the buzz generated by the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia this summer. Still, overall net revenue was down year-over-year to $1.13 billion.
The pressure is on EA as some of its top properties have returned disappointments in recent years. The stock is a tempting buy at its current price but investors may want to wait out second-quarter earnings that are slated for a late October release.
Tech Insider
