Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) intends to release its fourth quarter 2013 results after the close of the market on Thursday, February 6, 2014. In conjunction with this release, Activision Blizzard will host a conference call that will be broadcast over the Internet.
Wall Street anticipates that the video game maker will earn $0.73 per share for the quarter, which is $0.05 less than last year's $0.78 per share. iStock expects ATVI to beat Wall Street's consensus number. The iEstimate is $0.79; a nickel and a penny above the street's outlook.
ActivisionBlizzard is the world's largest and most profitable independent interactive entertainment publishing company. It develops and publishes some of the most successful and beloved entertainment franchises in any medium, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Skylanders, and Diablo.
[Related -Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) Q3 Earnings Preview: What To Watch?]
Top Bank Stocks To Own Right Now
For the most part, the video game maker has played games with Wall Street's consensus estimate. The NASDAQ 100 member topped EPS expectations 14 of the last 16 quarterly, and usually it ain't even close. The average bullish surprise has been 158.13% more than forecasted. The range extends from 4.08% to 600% better than analysts projected. Meanwhile, management delivered an on-target result and a bearish miss of -42.86%.
Despite the fantastic record of smashing EPS expectations, ATVI's stock performance in the three-days surround the quarterly checkups has been disappointing. Shares backpedalled nine of the last 16 quarters by an average of -4.97with a max loss of -7.9% to a minimum of -2.2%.
[Related -Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) Q3 Earnings Preview: Seeing Ghosts]
Performance was a little better the seven times shares turned green; gaining an average of 5.33% with a range of 1.30% to 16.50%. Take out the top-performance and the average gain slips to 3.47%.
Typically, the Q4 announcement is strongest of the three quarters in terms of performance. EPS topped expectation three of the last four fourth quarter announcements and the stock price followed the side of the surprise each time.
The lone February miss was $0.02, and the stock dropped -6.7% in the three days bookending the profit report. On the A-side of that 45, the February announcement produced bullish surprises of $0.04, $0.06 and $0.07 with gains of 1.3%, 16.5%, and 8.8% respectively.
Overall: There are reasons to believe that Q4 2013 will add to the bullish column. CEO, Eric Hirshberg reports, "Call of Duty: Ghosts is the #1 best-selling next gen launch title on both Xbox One and PS4, and for the second year in a row Skylanders was the #1 top-selling kids video game franchise." Clearly, Call of Duty is the franchise and Google Trends are up roughly 10% year-over-year (YoY). However, YoY queries for World of Warcraft, Skylanders, and Diablo. Lower expectations for the trio of games could be why Wall Street sees lower EPS this year than last. Nonetheless, the iEstimate and Activision Blizzard, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ATVI) February history suggest Thursday afternoon should be enjoyable for the company and its shareholders.
No comments:
Post a Comment