Candy Crush Saga publisher King has beat its own guidance for its fiscal second quarter, but investors are not happy with what they see from the game maker.
King’s stock price is down more than 8 percent in after-hours trading to $13.82 a share. This dive comes as the company reported its Q2 results, where it generated $500 million in revenues, which beat Wall Street estimates of approximately $490 million. The publisher also reported earnings of 49 cents per share, which bested the market consensus of 43 cents. But those beats comes as the company warns of lighter guidance going forward and as its active player numbers evaporate.
“Our second quarter 2015 gross bookings exceeded the high end of our guidance range,” King chief executive Riccardo Zacconi said in a statement. “And for the third consecutive quarter, Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Farm Heroes Saga ranked within the top 10-grossing games in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the U.S.”
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While King is performing well with three top 10 games, it is not growing its player base. The publisher’s daily active players were relatively flat year-over-year from 138 million during Q2 2014 to 142 million during the same period in 2015. Monthly unique players, however, is shrinking from 345 million in Q2 2014 to just 340 million last quarter.
The company also saw a significant decline in its monthly unique payers — or the people who actually pay money for in-app purchases. That dropped from 10.423 million during the three-month period ending June 30, 2014 to just 7.589 million through the same period in 2015.
To push those numbers back up, King is focusing once again on new releases, like Paradise Bay and Scrubby Dubby Saga games. But, as is typical in the mobile space, King is having difficulty introducing a new hit to the market.
But beyond the player metrics, King’s share price is also taking a hit because the company says it only expects to generate “gross bookings” of $460 million to $485 million for the next quarter. That’s below the $490 million that analysts were expecting.
So with a weak outlook and no evidence of player growth, King is going to have to watch Wall Street take away a chunk of its value.
King’s stock price is down more than 8 percent in after-hours trading to $13.82 a share. This dive comes as the company reported its Q2 results, where it generated $500 million in revenues, which beat Wall Street estimates of approximately $490 million. The publisher also reported earnings of 49 cents per share, which bested the market consensus of 43 cents. But those beats comes as the company warns of lighter guidance going forward and as its active player numbers evaporate.
“Our second quarter 2015 gross bookings exceeded the high end of our guidance range,” King chief executive Riccardo Zacconi said in a statement. “And for the third consecutive quarter, Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Farm Heroes Saga ranked within the top 10-grossing games in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the U.S.”
From VentureBeat
2 days, 6 topics, 80+ speakers, 500+ growth marketers. Only a few days left to register for GrowthBeat!
While King is performing well with three top 10 games, it is not growing its player base. The publisher’s daily active players were relatively flat year-over-year from 138 million during Q2 2014 to 142 million during the same period in 2015. Monthly unique players, however, is shrinking from 345 million in Q2 2014 to just 340 million last quarter.
The company also saw a significant decline in its monthly unique payers — or the people who actually pay money for in-app purchases. That dropped from 10.423 million during the three-month period ending June 30, 2014 to just 7.589 million through the same period in 2015.
To push those numbers back up, King is focusing once again on new releases, like Paradise Bay and Scrubby Dubby Saga games. But, as is typical in the mobile space, King is having difficulty introducing a new hit to the market.
But beyond the player metrics, King’s share price is also taking a hit because the company says it only expects to generate “gross bookings” of $460 million to $485 million for the next quarter. That’s below the $490 million that analysts were expecting.
So with a weak outlook and no evidence of player growth, King is going to have to watch Wall Street take away a chunk of its value.