By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 18th, 2024
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) stock attracts investors and its price may go up as “Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare” is the best-selling game in 2020 so far.
Amid coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis and the global lockdown, the latter had tremendous consequences on the gaming sector. And by the consequences, we mean the good one. Gaming stocks are having a great year. The VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF (ESPO), which tracks 25 stocks central to those industries, has jumped more than 23% year to date in the face of the broader market’s approximate 9% decline. Video game sales have reached rocket heights with millions of people staying at home during the COVID-19 outbreak, with even Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) making an invasion into this sector last week with its first high-budget shooter Crucible. And now Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI) stock is definitely the one that attracts investors’ attention.
Stay-Home Efforts and Gaming Drove a Surge in E-Tail Demand, ATVI Stock Is Up
ESPO’s top holding, chip manufacturer Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), said it had a 25% year-over-year increase in its gaming business releasing its Thursday earnings report. The company’s CFO Colette Kress explained in her letter to shareholders that stay-home efforts and “gaming drove a surge in e-tail demand” in the company’s fiscal first quarter.
With those positive incentives, gaming could become (even we think it already was) pretty lucrative bet. However, managing director at Ascent Wealth Partners Todd Gordon, says that much of the group is already pretty much burdened.
He said:
“One name that I would like to focus on here is Activision [Blizzard]. Each time the 50-[week] period moving average has crossed the 200, I’ve circled in the three prior occasions over the last 20 years. If we zoom into the most recent attempt, we haven’t quite crossed. If Activision’s 50-week moving average can cross above its 200-week moving average that’ll be a bullish sign for the stock.”
ATVI stock closed up by 0.1% at $73.15 in the after-market trading on Friday.
Gordon added:
“That’s been a long-term buy signal putting up $85 in sight. We have a long time until earnings, and … last quarter beat handily, but this stock has a tendency to be very far away from Wall Street consensus. So, I think earnings in general will be volatile in this sector, but specifically watch this. We hold it and we like it.”
Gordon, however, added that AMD’s “20-plus-year breakout” was of utter importance saying:
“It’s kind of holding below [$]60,” he said. “If AMD can get another push, I think you might see a little bit of catch-up there with where Nvidia went.”
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD) ended last week with a 0.95% rise selling for $55.17.
Activision Blizzard Succeeds in Keeping No 1 Position for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”
Speaking on Activision Blizzard, the company made stomps to keep a number one position for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” and it has succeeded in doing so. In NPD’s report for April, “Modern Warfare” came in second place just after Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy VII Remake” as of April’s best-selling game.
However, the shooter has kept its place as the best-selling game of 2020 so far, even surpassing Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”
The wide acceptance of “Call of Duty” is mostly promoted by factors other than the main game. “Call of Duty: Warzone” has become one of the most popular battle royale titles to date, providing huge competition for games such as Electronic Arts’ “Apex Legends” and Epic Games’ “Fortnite.”
Other titles in April 2020’s top 10 include Take-Two Interactive’s “Grand Theft Auto V” and “NBA 2K20,” Sony’s “MLB The Show 20,” and Capcom’s “Resident Evil 3 Remake.”
Other gaming industry updates are here.
