Zynga stock up 5% on better-than-expected Q4 result

Social gaming company had revenue of $311 million for the quarter, $1.28 billion for the year

Shares of Zynga popped up more than 5% in after-hours trading, after posting better-than-expected results fourth-quarter results after the close Tuesday.

Zynga is now trading at $2.88 a share, after gaining 7% in earlier trading.

In its fourth quarter results, Zynga reported GAAP revenue of $311 million, flat year-over-year, with bookings of $261 million, down 15% year-to-year. Earnings per share came in down 6 cents, while adjusted earnings per share was a penny.

Analysts had been expecting to see a loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $212 million.

The company experienced a net loss of $48 million for the quarter, down 89% from its net loss of $435 million a year ago.

Full year revenue for the company was $1.28 billion, up 12% year-over-year, and bookings of $1.15 billion, down 1% year-to-year.

Zynga's daily active users increased 3% year-to-year, from 54 million to 56 million. DAUs were down 6% from 60 million in the third quarter.

Monthly active users were up 24% year-to-year, from 240 million to 298 million. Once again, though, they were down 4% quarter-to-quarter, from 311 million.

"The biggest highlight of the quarter was seeing our team deliver a successful sequel in FarmVille2, a next generation social game that offers cutting edge 3-D experiences loved by millions of FarmVille fans," Mark Pincus, CEO and Founder of Zynga, said in a statement. "In 2013 we're excited to bring this new class of social games to mobile phones and tablets and build a network that offers an easier, better way for people to play together."

Zynga is projecting revenue in the range of $255 to $265 for the first quarter of 2013, with a net loss in the range of $32 million to $12 million. Bookings are projected to be between $200 and $210 million.

Zynga's previous earnings reports

For three out of the four quarters of 2012, Zynga beat Wall Street expectations.

In the first quarter, Zynga posted earnings of 6 cents a share, besting analysts' expectations by a penny. Revenue in the first three months of the year grew 32% from the year-ago quarter to $321 million, which was above estimates of $317.25. 

In the second quarter, Zynga reported a loss of 3 cents a share, or a 1 cent profit on an adjusted basis, on revenue of that grew 19% to $332 million, far short of analysts' expectations of 5 cents a share on revenue of $345 million. Zynga also sharply reduced its forecast, dropping its full-year bookings to $1.15 billion to $1.23 billion. Zynga had previously estimated bookings to be $1.43 billion to $1.5 billion. 

In its third quarter results, Zynga once again came back strong, reporting revenue of $317, higher than its expected range of $300 million to $305 million. Revenue was up 3% year-to-year. Bookings came in high, at $256 million, slightly better than the range of $250 million to $255 million that Zynga had been expecting. Bookings were down 11% from the previous year.

The company also predicted that it would be reporting a net loss of between $90 million and $105 million. The actual numbers were a net loss of $52 million, compared to net income a year ago of $12.5 million.

Earnings per share were a loss of 7 cents, compared with break-even results a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per share were 0 cents, down from a profit of 4 cents a share a year ago. 

Analysts had been expecting a loss of 1 cent per share on revenue of $256.4 million for the third quarter.

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