Earnings Beat In Cards For Activision Blizzard’s Q1?

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Trefis
ATVI: Activision Blizzard logo
ATVI
Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) is scheduled to report its Q1 2021 results on Tuesday, May 4. We expect the company to likely post revenue and earnings above the consensus estimates, primarily led by continued growth in the Call of Duty franchise. Activision Blizzard should see an overall pickup in demand due to higher gaming engagement levels seen over the recent quarters.  We expect the company to navigate well based on these trends over the latest quarter.

Furthermore, our forecast indicates that Activision Blizzard’s valuation is $113 per share, which is 24% above the current market price of around $91. Our interactive dashboard analysis on Activision Blizzard Pre-Earnings has additional details.

(1) Revenues expected to be above the consensus estimates

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Trefis estimates Activision Blizzard’s Q1 2021 revenues to be around $1.90 billion, slightly above the $1.78 billion consensus estimate. Despite the economies opening up with vaccination programs underway in multiple countries, the user engagement levels for gaming has remained on the higher side, and the new generation consoles sales likely aided the software demand as well. Activision Blizzard is now focused on widening its user base from 400 million currently to over 1 billion over the next few years, by offering more free-to-play content. Activision Blizzard’s Q4 2020 sales were up 21.5% y-o-y to $2.4 billion, primarily reflecting continued growth in the Activision segment, which includes revenues from the Call of Duty franchise. Our dashboard on Activision Blizzard Revenues offers more details on the company’s segments.

2) EPS likely to be slightly above the consensus estimates

Activision Blizzard’s Q1 2021 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is expected to be $0.75 per Trefis analysis, slightly above the consensus estimate of $0.70. The company’s adjusted net income of $590 million in Q4 2020 reflected a solid 24% rise from its $477 million figure in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to higher revenues. For the full year 2021, we expect the adjusted EPS to be higher at $3.75 compared to $3.21 in 2020. The company has reduced its sales and marketing costs over the recent quarters, and we expect this trend to continue in the near term.

(3) Stock price 24% above the current market price

Going by our Activision Blizzard’s Valuation, with an EPS estimate of $3.75 and a P/E multiple of 30x in 2021, this translates into a price of $113, which is 24% above the current market price of around $91. In fact, at the current market price of $91, ATVI stock is trading at just 24x its 2021 EPS estimate of $3.75. The 24x figure compares with levels of over 26x seen in 2019 and a 29x figure seen as recently as late 2020, implying there is more room for growth in ATVI stock.

Note: P/E Multiples are based on Share Price at the end of the year and reported (or expected) Adjusted Earnings for the full year.

While ATVI stock can see higher levels, it is helpful to see how its peers stack up. Check out ATVI stock comparison with its peers to see how Activision Blizzard compares against peers on metrics that matter. You can find more such useful comparisons on Peer Comparisons.

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