Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Solid company, doesn't rush buggy games, dividend on top.

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2012/02/10/not-even-a-jedi-can-stop-activision-blizzard.aspx

Not Even a Jedi Can Stop Activision Blizzard

Would you rather be an orc or a jedi? Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI ) is banking on gamers choosing the former.

The game maker put up solid fourth-quarter and full-year results last night. Net non-GAAP revenue in the fourth quarter added up to $2.41 billion, a decline from the $2.55 billion seen a year ago. Meanwhile, the bottom line improved to $0.62 in adjusted earnings per share. Both figures easily bested what the market was expecting. Activision finished off the year with $4.49 billion in adjusted sales and a $0.93 per share adjusted profit.

When it comes to the guidance game, the first-quarter outlook was pretty light, but the full-year forecast looked a little better. Next quarter, Activision only expects earnings per share of $0.03 on $525 million in sales, which is well below the market's expectations. On the other hand, full year earnings are guided to $0.94 per share on $4.5 billion in revenue, falling short of expectations only by a small margin.

The latest iteration in one of its most successful franchises, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, was ranked the No. 1 best-selling game in 2011, even though it was released in November. Activision launched an online service, "Call of Duty Elite," which is its fastest growing, premium, online service. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure is off to a strong start, and Activision believes it has the potential to become its next $1 billion franchise. Later this year, Diablo III will be released, which promises to revitalize that franchise too.

World of Warcraft still reigns with an iron fist in the MMORPG realm, holding top-dog status with 10.2 million subscribers at the end of 2011. That represents a loss of about 100,000 subscribers, which is a significant improvement to the 800,000 night elves, taurens, and dwarves lost last time around.

The smaller losses help address some of the fears that Electronic Arts' (Nasdaq: EA ) new MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is turning some of Activision's players to the dark side. The Old Republic is off to a strong start, but we'll need to see how many of those padawans end up sticking around after they've used up their free trials.

Activision continues to return cash to investors, cranking up its dividend by 9% to $0.18 this quarter. On top of that, the board has authorized a new stock repurchase program that tops out at $1 billion.

Activision's brand strength is just one reason why it's a much better pick than social butterfly Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA ) , whose business model is dubious at best. I'm also going to go ahead and give Activision an outperform CAPScall, since this company plays for keeps.

They are releasing a highly anticipated game this year, which has been in the making for 10 years or so. Im thinking the stock should rise with sales.

Blizzard is getting ready to release a game that has been in the making for 10 years, Diablo III. With this release, the game will include a "real money auction house" (RMAH) which will provide a new way of making money off of a game. They sold over 10 million copies of Diablo II, and with Diablo III being released for consoles on top of PCs, it will be a huge success.

Value Line, StockScouter

new WOW expansion coming for the tail end of WOWs career coming. Diablo 3 with half a million preorders already with no release date announced is VERY impressive. Diablo 3 will pick up WOWs slack and surpass. Diablo 3 is moving to a subscription model and real life Money auction house will only print money for ATVI

Purely an earnings play on Feb 9th. I think this game developer will beat earnings as well as raise guidance.

The 200SMA has held up as support like a champ! It won't dip below that anytime soon, barring some news. People who play WOW are addicted, so I don't see their revenue stream going away! Should be good for a short term bounce!

Activision is a big name gaming company, and if it's one thing I know, it's video games. Creator of the famed Call of Duty series, they are now in partnership with Bungie (the creators of arguably the modern world's most popular franchise: Halo) for their next title. It will be a big hit in the coming years just due to the hype behind the collaboration between two of the most successful gaming corporations out there.

This company already has crazy popular games going for it like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. I think they will continue to come out with new hits that will drive their stock price up.

Diablo III and WOW = profits, but watch out for Guild Wars II and Star Wars

znga anf frog

Look at past performance.

Skylanders

Very richly valued but this company has a really great IP portfolio.

World of Warcraft is a cash machine.

DIablo 3, a new expansion for WoW, Starcraft II espansions Blizzard alone is going to be insanely profitable

Publishes online, personal computer (PC), console, handheld, and mobile games of interactive entertainment worldwide. Market cap of $13.96B. In Dec 2010: Reported EPS at 0.53 vs. estimate at 0.51 (surprise of 3.9%). In Mar 2011: Reported EPS at 0.13 vs. estimate at 0.08 (surprise of 62.5%). In Jun 2011: Reported EPS at 0.1 vs. estimate at 0.05 (surprise of 100%). In Sep 2011: Reported 0.07 vs. estimate at 0.02 (surprise of 250%). [Average earnings surprise at 104.1%]. The stock has gained 2.35% over the last year.

The limits for gaming industry are set only by the willingness of people to have fun.

Like its growth potential