Take-Two beats quarterly results estimates on healthy gamer spending

(Reuters) -Take-Two Interactive Software beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter bookings and profit on Wednesday, boosted by the strong performance of the "Grand Theft Auto" and "Borderlands" franchises.

Shares of the New York-based company were up around 4% in extended trading.

Bookings for the second quarter came in at $1.47 billion, beating estimates of $1.43 billion.

Take-Two continues to see healthy in-game purchases for its large titles, such as "Grand Theft Auto Online" and "NBA 2K 25," as investors keenly await the launch of the hotly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI" next year.

"GTA VI" is expected to be an instant hit, with several analysts predicting the game to generate billions of dollars in sales yearly.

Peer Electronic Arts lifted its annual bookings forecast last week, owing to the strong sales of its American football games.

Take-Two also said it sold its Private Division label to an unnamed buyer as the company focuses on growing its core and mobile business in the long term.

The videogame publisher forecast bookings in the range of $1.35 billion to $1.40 billion, compared with estimates of $1.44 billion, as per data compiled by LSEG.

Take-Two reiterated its annual bookings forecast. The firm said in August it expects net bookings to grow in its fiscal 2026 and 2027, with analysts seeing much of the growth to come from "GTA VI."

On an adjusted basis, the company earned 66 cents per share, compared with estimates of 41 cents per share.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; editing by Alan Barona)