Money Matters, Simplified.
5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Activision Blizzard
Fri, 06/02/2009 - 14:58 by Brian D. Pacampara
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, video game giant Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Activision's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
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Activision Blizzard facts
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, Calif. |
| Market Cap | $12.59 billion |
| Industry | Home entertainment software |
| TTM Revenue | $1.89 billion |
| Management | CEO Robert Kotick (since 1991) CFO Thomas Tippl (since 2008) |
| Major Brands | Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, StarCraft, World of Warcraft |
| Competitors | Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO) |
| CAPS members bullish on ATVI also bullish on: | Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) |
| CAPS members bearish on ATVI also bearish on: | Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) |
Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's), and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Over on CAPS, 3,350 of the 3,432 members who have rated Activision Blizzard -- or 98% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include directd and Macsblow.
Last week, directd wrote that Activision is "a winner - profitable, loads of cash, still close to its 52 week low, tremendously undervalued, has proven to deliver outstanding games in [World of Warcraft], Guitar Hero and likely winners in Diablo and Starcraft."
In a pitch from last month, Macsblow elaborates on the company's potent pipeline for '09:
The video game industry as a whole seems weak, so this would be an ideal time for [A]ctivision to slip ahead. Video game giants [Electronic Arts], Atari and Midway are all struggling to keep their products while [A]ctivision has a whole list of titles that should be of great anticipation for most gamers in 2009.
Guitar hero's recent sales have been strong and they should continue with the upcoming release of their new title centered around Metallica. Starcraft II and Diablo III are also slated for 2009....
Overall, this is a solid company with low debt, high revenue and should be a safe investment for the next few years.Copyright © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate.