Activision Sees First-Quarter Profit Topping Its Forecast

Activision, the No. 2 U.S. video game publisher, said Tuesday it expects fiscal first-quarter results to exceed its forecasts after the company shipped more than 8 million games in the period.

Activision shares climbed about 3 percent to $18.95 in premarket trading after it released the data.

Activision said it shipped over 4 million "Spider-Man 3" games, 2 million "Shrek the Third" games, about 1 million of its "Transformers: The Game", and more than 1 million "Guitar Hero II" games in the quarter.

"As a result, the company now expects that its financial results for the first quarter fiscal year 2008 will exceed its previously reported outlook on May 31, 2007," Activision said.

The company, whose main rival is Electronic Arts, the world's biggest game publisher, did not give new forecasts. On May 31, Activision forecast net revenue of $425 million for the first quarter and earnings per share of 3 cents.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates had expected a profit of 6 cents a share on revenue of $428.8 million in the period.

Activision, which publishes titles for gaming consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony expects to announce its first-quarter fiscal 2008 earnings results in early August.