Latest news with #PeacekeeperElite
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tencent Posts Solid Results as AI Investments Start to Pay Off
Tencent Holdings' revenue growth accelerated in the first quarter as its core gaming business remained strong and ramped-up spending on artificial intelligence began to pay off. The company, China's largest by market capitalization, said Wednesday that AI capabilities have started to contribute tangibly to its advertisement and game businesses. The Unraveling of the King of Davos Can UnitedHealth's New Boss Succeed Where Other 'Boomerang' CEOs Failed? ESPN's New Streaming Service Will Cost $29.99 a Month Microsoft Slashing Thousands of Workers, Including Management Jobs 'MAGA Accounts': What to Know About the $1,000 Child Savings Pitch in the Tax Bill Tencent's first-quarter revenue climbed 13% from a year earlier to 180.02 billion yuan, equivalent to $24.98 billion, topping analysts' expectations. That marked a pickup from the single-digit growth seen in previous quarters. The Chinese technology giant has been investing more and more in AI to compete against rivals and enhance its offerings in gaming, social media, digital payments and cloud services. Tencent's capital expenditure surged more than 300% in the fourth quarter as it snapped up graphics processing units–and it plans to accelerate spending further. Company president Martin Lau said after the 2024 results that its capex will likely account for a low-teen percentage of revenue this year. First-quarter capital spending almost doubled from a year ago to 27.48 billion yuan but was down from the 36.58 billion yuan recorded in the final quarter of 2024. Analysts say that Tencent's increased spending and use of multiple AI models, both third-party and its own, will drive monetization and could lead to the creation of a powerful AI ecosystem. Its net profit rose 14% to 47.82 billion yuan during the quarter, missing the 52.12 billion yuan estimated by analysts in a FactSet poll. Tencent's bread-and-butter gaming business maintained strong momentum, with the domestic division delivering a 24% sales gain, boosted by a low base and legacy titles 'Honor of Kings' and 'Peacekeeper Elite,' as well as last year's breakout hit 'Dungeon & Fighter Mobile.' Revenue from the international gaming business increased 23%. AI-powered ad targeting and creation helped lift Tencent's marketing services revenue by 20% in the first three months of the year despite challenging macro conditions. Citi analysts viewed the results as 'a stronger-than-expected print,' supported by continued levers of sustainable growth of high-margin revenue streams and signs of AI-enhancing benefit. Continuous AI advertising tech upgrades could make Tencent's ad revenue growth more durable than that of global peers, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a recent note. That is largely due to the valuable user data it can use from the mini-programs and payment services embedded in its popular do-everything app, Weixin. Weixin and its overseas version, WeChat, had a combined 1.40 billion monthly active users as of the end of March. Tencent said operating leverage from existing high-quality revenue streams can help absorb the costs of investing more in new opportunities, such as its Yuanbao chatbot application and AI features on Weixin. The company's use of AI and solid earnings performances have helped make it one of the hottest Chinese tech stocks of 2025. Data from Wind showed that Tencent was one of the top three most purchased stocks via the Hong Kong Southbound Connect program over the past three months. Concerns about U.S. tariffs have taken some of the wind out of the broader rally in Chinese tech shares, tempering enthusiasm about the emergence of homegrown AI startups like DeepSeek. Tencent's business is relatively resilient to tariff risks as it makes most of its revenue in China. The stock is still up 25% so far this year, but tightened U.S. controls on advanced chips could disrupt AI ramp-up efforts. The U.S. government said last month that Nvidia will now need a license to export its H20 processors to China and several other countries. Chinese AI players, including Tencent, use the chips to power their AI efforts. Still, analysts think Tencent's strong H20 chip inventory will likely leave it less exposed to the latest U.S. restrictions. There is also a growing number of domestic substitutes for the chip. Coming earnings from Tencent's peers Alibaba and Baidu will offer a broader picture of how the Chinese tech industry is holding up amid the pressure. Write to Sherry Qin at Apple to Support Brain-Implant Control of Its Devices Trump's China Deal Makes Sense. How He Got Here Doesn't. United Adds Caviar Service and Luxe Jammies in Race for Superpremium Travelers Mild April Inflation Captures Early Stages of Tariff Effects Trump's Drug-Price Crackdown, Like His Trade War, Could Be More Bark Than Bite Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TCEHY Set to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?
Tencent TCEHY is scheduled to release first-quarter 2025 results on May Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at 88 cents per share, unchanged over the past 90 days, indicating 18.92% year-over-year Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $24.26 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 8.89%. TCEHY surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average surprise of 11.65%. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.) Tencent Holding Ltd. price-eps-surprise | Tencent Holding Ltd. Quote Let us see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement. Tencent's performance in the first quarter of 2025 is expected to have been shaped by multiple ongoing initiatives across games, advertising, fintech, and AI infrastructure. In domestic games, momentum from the fourth quarter of 2024 is expected to have been carried over, supported by evergreen titles like Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite, Valorant and also contributions from recently released games, DnF Mobile and Delta Force. All five of Tencent's highest-grossing games recorded year-over-year daily active users (DAU) increases during the 2025 Spring Festival period, suggesting sustained engagement. Deferred revenue, which grew by a high-teens percentage year over year in 2024, is expected to have contributed positively to the top line in the quarter under marketing services, revenues increased 17% year over year in the fourth quarter, with AI-driven enhancements to the advertising platform and strong advertiser demand across categories such as e-commerce, financials, FMCG, healthcare and education. Video Accounts Marketing Services revenues grew over 60% year over year, while Weixin Search ad revenue more than doubled. These trends are expected to have supported continued advertising growth in the quarter to be FinTech, commercial payment revenues were flat year over year in the prior quarter, with volume of transactions rising but average selling prices under pressure. The same dynamics are expected to have continued in the first quarter, with consumer demand improving but supply-side pricing pressures still company reported that AI-native application Yuanbao saw rapid growth, with DAU increasing 20-fold from February to March. However, the revenue impact in the first quarter is expected to have been limited due to supply constraints in GPU availability. Increased allocation of GPUs for internal use initially limited external cloud services revenue, though installation activities during the first quarter are expected to have laid the groundwork for stronger growth in subsequent heavily invested in AI development in the fourth quarter of 2024, marked by a 21% year-over-year increase in R&D expenses and a 421% year-over-year rise in capital expenditure. The company intends to further increase both R&D spending and capital expenditures in 2025 to support AI infrastructure and model development across business groups. The bottom line in the first quarter of 2025 is expected to have reflected the increased R&D spending, driven by higher staff costs and GPU service depreciation related to AI initiatives. According to the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the exact case here. TCEHY has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Here are a few companies worth considering, as our model indicates that they possess the right combination of factors to exceed earnings expectations in their upcoming releases:Capital Southwest CSWC currently has an Earnings ESP of +3.23% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Capital Southwest shares have plunged 8.3% year to date. CSWC is slated to report its fourth quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 14. Baidu BIDU has an Earnings ESP of +8.67% and a Zacks Rank #3 at shares have gained 3.1% year to date. BIDU is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2025 results on May Materials AMT has an Earnings ESP of +1.94% and a Zacks Rank #3 at shares have gained 19.9% year to date. It is scheduled to report its second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 15. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Tower Corporation (AMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tencent Holding Ltd. (TCEHY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Capital Southwest Corporation (CSWC) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Mobile games turn into boom-or-bust industry as spending rises
[HONG KONG] Mobile gamers ramped up their spending by 4 per cent last year even as the number of downloads and new releases fell, highlighting the narrowing of the industry to a handful of huge titles that dominate users' time. New hits took less time than ever to reach their first US$1 million in revenue – 106 days – but competition from evergreen titles meant there were fewer of those standouts than before, according to Appfigures data. Only 399 new games achieved that threshold, and there were 43 per cent fewer games released overall in 2024, the researchers said. The games industry is struggling to develop a sustainable economic model, with many publishers and studios in recent times cancelling projects and cutting staff after the pandemic-driven boom in entertainment faded. The surging cost to develop and promote new titles has dampened investment and pushed console makers Nintendo and Microsoft to announce the first US$80 retail games. On mobile, Tencent Holdings earned roughly four times as much as the second-biggest publisher in 2024, Monopoly Go! creator Scopely, with longtime favourites Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite in the top four highest global earners. The most profitable and downloaded games for the year were almost all long-lived mobile titles – less than US$4 billion of the total US$65.7 billion spending came from games actually released in 2024. Among those, eight came from Chinese developers, including Mihoyo's Zenless Zone Zero, and two from Japan. Appfigures researchers said developers seeking a slice of the industry are fighting to retain existing players and recruit new ones. One strategy is to use cross-promotional work and other forms of entertainment. 'Collaborations between mobile games and major IP from TV and movies to comics and fashion are nothing new. But in online multiplayer and live service games they shine, boosting both player acquisition and spending,' according to the Appfigures report. 'Monetisation through branded events has grown more sophisticated over time and is now a core strategy in top titles.' American gamers were once again among the world's most valuable, as they spent an average of US$6.43 per download, across iPhone and Android devices, more than four times the global average of US$1.52 per download. Both figures increased by 11 per cent, underscoring the underlying trend of increased spending. BLOOMBERG
Mint
13-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Mobile Games Turn Into Boom-or-Bust Industry as Spending Rises
(Bloomberg) -- Mobile gamers ramped up their spending by 4% last year even as the number of downloads and new releases fell, highlighting the narrowing of the industry to a handful of huge titles that dominate users' time. New hits took less time than ever to reach their first $1 million in revenue — 106 days — but competition from evergreen titles meant there were fewer of those standouts than before, according to Appfigures data. Only 399 new games achieved that threshold, and there were 43% fewer games released overall in 2024, the researchers said. The games industry is struggling to develop a sustainable economic model, with many publishers and studios in recent times canceling projects and cutting staff after the pandemic-driven boom in entertainment faded. The surging cost to develop and promote new titles has dampened investment and pushed console makers Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp. to announce the first $80 retail games. On mobile, Tencent Holdings Ltd. earned roughly four times as much as the second biggest publisher in 2024, Monopoly Go! creator Scopely Inc., with longtime favorites Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite in the top four highest global earners. The most profitable and downloaded games for the year were almost all long-lived mobile titles — less than $4 billion of the total $65.7 billion spending came from games actually released in 2024. Among those, eight came from Chinese developers, including Mihoyo Co.'s Zenless Zone Zero, and two from Japan. Appfigures researchers said developers seeking a slice of the industry are fighting to retain existing players and recruit new ones. One strategy is to use cross-promotional work and other forms of entertainment. 'Collaborations between mobile games and major IP from TV and movies to comics and fashion are nothing new. But in online multiplayer and live service games they shine, boosting both player acquisition and spending,' according to the Appfigures report. 'Monetization through branded events has grown more sophisticated over time and is now a core strategy in top titles.' American gamers were once again among the world's most valuable, as they spent an average of $6.43 per download, across iPhone and Android devices, more than four times the global average of $1.52 per download. Both figures increased by 11%, underscoring the underlying trend of increased spending. More stories like this are available on
