Ubi shares spike on earnings hike

Sometimes being wrong isn't so bad. That's certainly the lesson Ubisoft is becoming acutely aware of as its games continue to outpace sales expectations, and consequently alter the publisher's bottom line. In December, Ubisoft said that its Montreal studio's Assassin's Creed had shifted 2.5 million units in its first month, a figure Ubisoft claims equates to the fastest-selling new gaming intellectual property in the US, with 2.5 million more having shipped by the publisher's third-quarter financial report. Ubi's go-to Canadian studio followed that success with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which the publisher said yesterday had shipped more than 2 million units in its first two weeks at retail.

With several titles from Ubisoft's casual brand complementing Assassin's Creed and Vegas 2's "better-than-expected" performance, the publisher has on several occasions revised its earnings upward. Most recently, Ubisoft said yesterday that its full-year haul would now amount to €920 million (about $1.45 billion), up from previous projections of €875 million (about $1.38 billion). Unsurprisingly, the third revision in as many months has had a positive impact on the publisher's stock price, reports financial news service Bloomberg.

Today, the publisher closed trading up 5.6 percent on Euronext Paris, rising €3.03 (about $4.70) to €57.60 (about $90). With shares peaking as high as €60 (about $94) on the day, Bloomberg reports Ubisoft's stock is at its highest level in more than a month.

Today's spike follows a 10 percent jump occurring in the wake of Ubisoft's acquisition of the rights to Tom Clancy's military-media empire in March. The franchise has been highly lucrative for the publisher in the past, with the Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon series each reaching multiplatinum status across a breadth of platforms. Ubisoft has plans to expand this brand with two new franchises: EndWar, a WWIII-themed real-time strategy game, and an as-yet-unannounced air combat game. The publisher has also signaled its intent to investigate the possibility of a Tom Clancy massively multiplayer online game, and plans to publish books as well as produce television shows and films related to the brand.