What happened
Shares of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) climbed 9.6% on Friday after the video game maker delivered fourth-quarter results that bested Wall Street’s expectations.
So what
Activision Blizzard’s net bookings — essentially, the dollar amount of products and services it sold during the quarter — rose nearly 13% to $3.05 billion. That was well above analysts’ estimates, which had called for bookings of $2.79 billion.
The gains were fueled by strong sales of Activision Blizzard’s core franchises, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush. Many of the company’s games are seeing heightened player engagement during the COVID-19 crisis, as people spend more time at home.
“In a year filled with adversity, our extraordinary employees were determined to provide connection and joy to our 400 million players around the world,” said CEO Bobby Kotick in a press release. “They accomplished this as well as generating record financial results for our shareholders.”
Now what
Several analysts boosted their price targets for Activision Blizzard’s stock following its excellent fourth-quarter performance. JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani sees the game maker’s shares hitting $115 as Activision Blizzard advances its strategy of marrying its most popular PC and console franchises with new mobile formats.
