EA expected to report $960m Q4 revenue

EA will release its Q4 earnings report on Monday, and analysts expect the company to post revenues of $960 million.

This should be a big quarter for EA, following the launch of Mass Effect 3 and MMO Star Wars the Old Republic.

Though still a name synonymous with the big publishing industry, stocks were driven up last week following a rumor that the smaller Nexon planned on purchasing the five billion dollar company.

A few years ago, such rumors would have fallen on deaf ears, but with startups like Zynga valued at over six billion dollars, and rival Activision Blizzard valued at more than fourteen billion, EA is no longer the untouchable giant of the industry it once was.

This quarter, the biggest worry for EA is the closure of Game Group- one of the publisher’s biggest retail partners.

Despite changes in the weather, some analysts are expecting EA to beat market forecasts.

Venture Beat reports that Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has put his estimate at $980 million, and expects EA to report non-GAAP earnings of between $4.55 and $4.6 million for the coming year; four times that of Zynga.

The question then, is one of scale.

EA is expected to do well, but will the numbers simply be "good enough", or will this quarter show a company riding the wave of economic recovery to a new period of growth?

It may be a close call, but with stock prices continuing to rise, it seems investors have put their money on a strong year for EA.