Zynga Inc (ZNGA) Stock Soars on Bookings Outlook

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Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) posted a first-quarter loss of 1 cent per share, matching consensus Street estimates and sending ZNGA stock up 9.8% in Friday’s premarket trade.

Zynga Inc (ZNGA) Stock Soars on Bookings Outlook

Revenue for the social game developer fell short of expectations in the period, coming in at $194.3 million versus a consensus estimate of $196 million.

However, Zynga recorded all-time best figures for mobile revenue and bookings. The former was up 19% year-over-year, while the latter improved by 27%.

Looking ahead, ZNGA is forecasting second-quarter revenues of $200 million, with bookings expected at $205 million. Analysts were expecting Zynga to forecast bookings of $195.5 million, according to Zacks Investment Research.

San Francisco-based ZNGA’s roster of games includes CityVille, FarmVille, FrontierVille, Words With Friends, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, and Treasure Isle. Zynga games typically use the “freemium” model, where the game itself is free to play, but they can pay to add additional content, or to get ahead in the games.

“From our perspective, we’re very encouraged by the results, (but) we’re not declaring victory by any means,” Chief Executive Frank Gibeau told Reuters on Thursday. Once one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies, Zynga suffered a dramatic reversal of fortunes in 2012 as gamers switched from the company’s Facebook-based desktop games to those played on mobile devices.

Mobile online game revenue was up 31% from a year ago, and mobile user pay bookings were up 40%. That was the best in Zynga history. The mobile audience is now at 18 million average daily active users, up 16% from a year ago — the strongest growth in two years — VentureBeat reported.

The company said in February it paid $42.5 million for four Solitaire smartphone games created by Harpan LLC. Zynga released Boggle with Friends late in the quarter.

ZNGA stock is now up more than 10% year-to-date.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/05/zynga-inc-znga-stock-soars-on-bookings-outlook/.

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