How to buy Electronic Arts shares

Electronic Arts Inc is an electronic gaming & multimedia business with stocks listed in the US. Electronic Arts shares (EA) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was US$145.21 – an increase of 1.6% over the previous week. Here's how to invest if you're based in Australia.

How to buy shares in Electronic Arts

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Electronic Arts. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: EA. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Electronic Arts reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$145.21, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Electronic Arts, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Electronic Arts. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Electronic Arts share price

Use our graph to track the performance of EA stocks over time.

Electronic Arts shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-06-17.

52-week range	US$109.7372 - US$149.9362
50-day moving average	US$142.3032
200-day moving average	US$139.558
Target price	US$162.93
PE ratio	49.6725
Dividend yield	US$0.34 (0.24%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$2.87

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Electronic Arts stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Electronic Arts Inc by TradingView

Electronic Arts price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $145.21

1 week (2021-06-14)	-2.25%
1 month (2021-05-21)	3.60%
3 months (2021-03-22)	10.50%
6 months (2020-12-22)	4.15%

1 year (2020-06-22)	11.94%
2 years (2019-06-21)	52.32%
3 years (2018-06-22)	2.80%
5 years (2016-06-22)	94.13%

Is Electronic Arts under- or over-valued?

Valuing Electronic Arts stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Electronic Arts's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Electronic Arts's P/E ratio

Electronic Arts's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 50x. In other words, Electronic Arts shares trade at around 50x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Electronic Arts's PEG ratio

Electronic Arts's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.1447. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Electronic Arts's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Electronic Arts's EBITDA

Electronic Arts's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$1.2 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Electronic Arts's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Electronic Arts financials

Revenue TTM	US$5.6 billion
Operating margin TTM	18.74%
Gross profit TTM	US$4.1 billion
Return on assets TTM	5.41%
Return on equity TTM	10.94%
Profit margin	14.87%
Book value	27.368
Market capitalisation	US$40.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Electronic Arts shares

There are currently 3.7 million Electronic Arts shares held short by investors – that's known as Electronic Arts's "short interest". This figure is 37.4% down from 6.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Electronic Arts shares can be evaluated.

Electronic Arts's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Electronic Arts's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Electronic Arts shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Electronic Arts shares traded daily (recently around 2.3 million). Electronic Arts's SIR currently stands at 1.61. In other words for every 100,000 Electronic Arts shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1610 shares are currently held short.

However Electronic Arts's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Electronic Arts shares, or, against the total number of tradable Electronic Arts shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Electronic Arts's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Electronic Arts shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0132% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Electronic Arts shares, roughly 13 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Electronic Arts.

Find out more about how you can short Electronic Arts stock.

Electronic Arts's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Electronic Arts.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Electronic Arts's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 16.2

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Electronic Arts's overall score of 16.2 (as at 12/31/2018) is excellent – landing it in it in the 10th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Electronic Arts is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Electronic Arts's environmental score

Environmental score: 5.63/100

Electronic Arts's environmental score of 5.63 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Electronic Arts is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Electronic Arts's social score

Social score: 11.75/100

Electronic Arts's social score of 11.75 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Electronic Arts is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Electronic Arts's governance score

Governance score: 11.32/100

Electronic Arts's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Electronic Arts is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Electronic Arts's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Electronic Arts scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Electronic Arts has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Electronic Arts Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	16.2
Total ESG percentile	9.54
Environmental score	5.63
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	11.75
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	11.32
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	2

Electronic Arts share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 8.97% of net profits

Recently Electronic Arts has paid out, on average, around 8.97% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.47% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Electronic Arts shareholders could enjoy a 0.47% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Electronic Arts's case, that would currently equate to about $0.34 per share.

While Electronic Arts's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Electronic Arts is investing more in its future growth.

Electronic Arts's most recent dividend payout was on 22 June 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 31 May 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Electronic Arts's shares ever split?

Electronic Arts's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 17 November 2003. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Electronic Arts shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Electronic Arts shares which in turn could have impacted Electronic Arts's share price.

Electronic Arts share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Electronic Arts's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$109.7372 up to US$149.9362. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Electronic Arts's is 0.8908. This would suggest that Electronic Arts's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Electronic Arts overview

Electronic Arts Inc. develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. It develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, racing, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, and Plants vs. Zombies brands; and license games from others, including FIFA, Madden NFL, UFC, NHL, Formula 1, and Star Wars brands. The company also provides advertising services; and licenses its games to third parties to distribute and host its games. It markets and sells its games and services through digital distribution and retail channels, as well as directly to mass market retailers, specialty stores, and distribution arrangements. Electronic Arts Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Electronic Arts is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.454% of Electronic Arts shares are held by insiders and 94.018% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Electronic Arts?

  Electronic Arts's fiscal year ends in March.

• Where is Electronic Arts based?

  Electronic Arts's address is: 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA, United States, 94065

• What is Electronic Arts's ISIN number?

  Electronic Arts's international securities identification number is: US2855121099

• What is Electronic Arts's CUSIP number?

  Electronic Arts's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 285512109