Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) were up over 1% on Friday. The stock has gained 42% year-to-date. The company saw revenues decline and losses widen for the second quarter of 2024. At the same time, there is a lot of excitement over the upcoming trailer release of the next installment of Grand Theft Auto in December.
Quarterly performance
In Q2 2024, Take-Two’s revenues decreased 7% year-over-year to $1.30 billion. Net loss widened to $3.20 per share from $1.54 per share in the year-ago quarter. Both the top and bottom line numbers fell below expectations.
Net bookings, which is defined as the amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically, decreased 4% to $1.44 billion. Recurrent consumer spending, which is generated from ongoing consumer engagement and includes virtual currency and in-game purchases, was down 9% in the quarter and made up 77% of total revenue.
Franchise strength
The biggest contributors to revenue in the second quarter were Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K24, Empires & Puzzles, Toon Blast, Merge Dragons!, Words With Friends, Zynga Poker, and the company’s hyper-casual mobile portfolio.
Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online continue to perform well. Grand Theft Auto V has sold-in approx. 190 million units to-date. The announcement that the first trailer of the next Grand Theft Auto will be out in December has created a buzz as the GTA franchise is one of the company’s most popular ones and the new release is anticipated to drive significant growth. Red Dead Redemption 2 is also doing well and has sold-in more than 57 million units to-date.
Outlook
For the third quarter of 2024, Take-Two expects net revenue of $1.29-1.34 billion and net loss per share of $0.63-0.73. Net bookings are expected to be $1.30-1.35 billion, compared to $1.4 billion in the prior-year quarter. Recurrent consumer spending is expected to be down by around 5%, assuming a modest decline in the mobile business.
For the full year of 2024, net revenue is expected to be $5.37-5.47 billion. Net loss per share is expected to range between $5.35-5.62. Net bookings are projected to range between $5.45-5.55 billion. Take-Two expects the US to account for 65% of net bookings and international to account for 35%. Recurrent consumer spending is expected to grow 4%.