THQ (THQI) June 2008 Quarter Earnings Notes
Press Release
-Revenue of $137.6M. Non-GAAP ex-deferred revenue was $121.1M
-Key titles were WALL-E, Wii Big Beach Sports, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, and MX vs. ATV Untamed
-EPS -0.38 per share
-Future lineup: de Blob in September, Saints Row 2 and WWE vs. Raw 2009 in December quarter, Red Faction Guerrilla, Darksiders: Wrath of War, and WWE Legends of Wrestlemania in March quarter. UFC 2009 in June quarter 2009
-Guidance for September 2008 quarter: $160-170M, net loss -0.35 to -0.39. March FY2009: $1150-$1175M, EPS 0.80-0.90
-Sold 1M units of WALL-E, new multi-year relationship with Marvel (Marvel Super Hero Squad), Dreamworks “Master Mind” 2010 animated film
-$332M cash, $39.4M in LT debt
Conference Call
-Lowered expectations on WALL-E. Moved Destroy All Humans: Path of Furon and Bratz Girlz Really Rock to December quarter
Q&A
-de Blob to launch September 26th. Saints Row 2 to launch October 14th. WWE first weekend of November
-WALL-E is off to a slightly better start than Ratatouille and will sell several million units, but below what they expected
Take-aways
-WALL-E was below expectations. For kids, nothing compares to Pixar’s Cars and Nemo.
-The pipeline still looks weak. Red Faction E3 demo looked pedestrian. Saints Row 2 is what will drive THQ, but even this game was delayed. Delayed games usually don’t turn out well, but we’ll see.