Lainie Goldstein
Analyst · Justin Post with Merrill Lynch. Please proceed
Thanks, Karl and good afternoon everyone. Today, I'll review our results for the third quarter and then discuss our outlook for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015. All of the numbers I'll be providing today are non-GAAP results and all comparisons are year-over-year unless otherwise stated. Our press release provides a reconciliation of our GAAP to non-GAAP measurements. Starting with our results for the third quarter, non-GAAP net revenue increased 24% to $954 million versus $767.7 million from last year’s third quarter. This result exceeded our outlook range of $745 million to $760 million, due primarily to the outstanding launch of Grand Theft Auto V for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as continued strong engagement with Grand Theft Auto online and robust holiday sales of WWE’s 2K15. Digitally-delivered revenue grew 64% to $217.2 million, up from a $132.8 million last year. Revenue from recurrent consumer spending, including virtual currency downloadable add-on content and online games, grew 23% and accounted for 36% of digitally-delivered revenue. The largest contributors to digitally-delivered revenues were offerings for the Grand Theft Auto series, NBA 2K15, the Borderlands franchise and Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth. Catalog sales accounted for $103.7 million of net revenue, led by the Grand Theft Auto series and offerings for Borderlands 2. Gross margin increased slightly to 45.7%. Operating expenses were $157.2 million, up by $40.2 million due to higher marketing expense on third quarter releases. And non-GAAP net income increased to $211.6 million, or $1.87 per share, up from $210.7 million or $1.70 per share in fiscal third quarter 2014. This result exceeded our outlook range of $1.35 to $1.45 per share. On a GAAP basis, we reported net revenue of $531.1 million, a net income of $40.1 million or $0.42 per share. Turning to some key items on our balance sheet at December 31, 2014, as compared to September 30, 2014, our cash and short-term investments balance increased to $976.6 million. This equates to net cash of approximately $8.57 per share, which includes the potential dilution from our convertible notes. Our accounts receivable balance increased to $435.7 million, reflecting holiday sales. Inventory decreased to $24.6 million due primarily to shipments of our third quarter titles. And software development costs and licenses decreased to $294.8 million, reflecting the amortization of capitalized cost for our recent releases. Now, I will review our financial outlook for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015, which is provided on a non-GAAP basis. Starting with the full fiscal year as a result of our better-than-expected non-GAAP third quarter performance, strong current business trends and positive sales outlook for our upcoming releases, we are increasing our outlook for both revenue and net income per share We now expect net revenue to range from $1.65 billion to $1.7 billion, up from the prior range of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion, and net income to range from $1.65 per share to $1.75 per share, up from the prior range of $1.05 to $1.30 per share. Turning to the details of our full year outlook, we expect the revenue breakdown from our labels to be roughly 50% from 2K and 50% from Rockstar Games. We expect our geographic revenue split to be about 60% United States and 40% international. We expect gross margins in the mid-to-upper 40s. Total operating expenses are expected to increase by approximately 11%, driven primarily by personnel expense on a higher headcount, higher professional fees, and higher depreciation expense. Selling and marketing expense is expected to be about 14% of net revenue based on the midpoint of our outlook range. And we project interest and other expense of approximately $10 million, tax expense of about $70 million, and weighted average fully diluted shares of approximately 114 million. This reflects weighted average basic shares of approximately 80 million, 8 million participating shares and 26 million shares representing the potential dilution from our convertible notes. Interest on the convertible notes, net of tax, is approximately $6.8 million, which should be added back to net income to calculate net income per share. Turning to the fiscal fourth 2014. We expect net revenue to range from $410 million to $460 million and net income to range from $0.15 to $0.25 per share. The majority of our revenues is expected to come from Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online, Evolve and NBA 2K15. We expect gross margins in the low to mid-40s. Total operating expenses are expected to increase by approximately 64% from the prior year's fourth quarter, due primarily to higher marketing expense for upcoming releases and higher research and development expense for titles that have not yet reached technological feasibility. Selling and marketing expense is expected to be about 15% of net revenue based on the midpoint of our outlook range. Our fourth quarter outlook also reflects interest and other expense of approximately $2 million, tax expense of $30 million, and weighted average fully diluted shares of approximately 115 million. This reflects weighted average basic shares of approximately 81 million, 8 million participating shares and 26 million shares representing the potential dilution from our convertible notes. Interest on the convertible notes, net of tax, is approximately $1.7 million, which should be added back to net income to calculate net income per share. We expect the operations to be approximately cash flow neutral during the fourth quarter and we continue to expect to generate cash from operations in fiscal 2016. As a result of the creative excellence of our development team, we do some extraordinary holiday lineup. Fiscal 2015 is poised to be one of the most successful years in the history of Take-Two. Looking ahead, our industry leading creative assets and strong balance sheet provide a solid foundation for our company to continue to deliver long-term growth profits and returns for our shareholders. Thank you. Now I will turn the call back to Strauss.