Tag Archives: request

Activision Crushes Q1 Earnings, Gets Lift From Mobile Games

Activision Blizzard ( ATVI ) shares gapped up Friday on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings thanks to a boost from newly acquired mobile game publisher King Digital Entertainment. Activision late Thursday said it earned 23 cents a share excluding items on adjusted sales of $908 million in the March quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the Santa Monica, Calif.-based video game publisher to earn 12 cents a share on sales of $813 million. On a year-over-year basis, earnings per share rose 44% and revenue 29%. Activision raised its full-year sales and earnings outlook. Activision stock was up over 6%, above 37, in early afternoon trading on the stock market today , and touched a 2016 high. Activision stock hit a record high of 39.93 on Dec. 29. First-quarter results benefited from the launch of King’s “Candy Crush Jelly Saga” and continued strong sales of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3” and associated downloadable content. For the current quarter, Activision expects to earn 38 cents a share ex items, up 192% year over year, on sales of $1.38 billion, up 81%. For the year, Activision projects $1.78 EPS, up 35%, on sales of $6.28 billion, up 36%. Analysts Hike Activision Price Targets At least seven Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on Activision stock after the company’s Q1 report. UBS analyst Eric Sheridan reiterated his buy rating on Activision and raised his price target to 42 from 36. “Activision exceeded expectations across the board, highlighting the strength of engagement and monetization across its portfolio and demonstrating a successful integration of King,” Sheridan said in a report. Activision purchased King, best known for its “Candy Crush Saga” smartphone games, on Feb. 23 in a deal worth $5.9 billion. The purchase lets Activision diversify from its core business in console and PC games such as “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft.” Activision’s guidance looks conservative, especially with the upcoming launch of “Overwatch,” “World of Warcraft” expansion and King momentum, he said. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson maintained his buy rating on Activision stock and boosted his price target to 42 from 39. “We believe (Activision’s) guidance factors in a healthy layer of conservatism,” Olson said. “The company has beaten original fiscal-year EPS outlook by an average of 19% since ’09 and, in addition to typical conservatism, Activision is positioned to make the King deal materially accretive to EPS.” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson maintained his overweight rating on Activision and raised his price target to 41 from 36. The next big catalyst for Activision could be the May 24 launch of “Overwatch,” the first new game franchise from the Blizzard division “in a couple of decades,” Wilson said.

SunPower Keeps Full-Year View Despite $400 Million Q2 Guidance Lag

Late Thursday, SunPower ( SPWR ) kept its full-year outlook despite offering Q2 guidance that lagged Wall Street’s view by $400 million, indicating a back-end-loaded 2016 for the No. 2 solar developer, says Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin. SunPower and First Solar ( FSLR ) stocks were both flat in early afternoon trading on the stock market today , but IBD’s 26-company Energy-Solar industry group was down more than 1%, touching a three-year low for the third straight day. SunPower-First Solar yieldco 8point3 Energy Partners ( CAFD ) stock was down 2%. For Q1, SunPower reported $433.6 million in sales ex items, topping analysts’ model for $328.5 million, boosted by revenue recognized from the sale to 8point3 of the 50-megawatt Hooper Project. Solar firms form yieldcos to own their operating assets. But SunPower’s 30-cent loss per share ex items was wider than the 20-cent projection of 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, and that swung from a 13-cent gain in the year-earlier quarter. SunPower said it deployed 236 megawatts in the quarter, above guidance for 180 MW to 210 MW and up 8% year over year. Of that, Jobin estimates 75 MW was residential, 35 MW commercial and 205 MW power plant. The latter two segments missed views for 43 MW and 210 MW. Residential deployments fell 23% on Japanese weakness, partially offset by 50% growth in the U.S. market, Jobin wrote. But lease bookings (37% of U.S. deployments) fell 18%. For the current quarter, SunPower guided to $310 million to $360 million in sales, down 11% year over year at the midpoint. That was far off the analysts’ model for $722 million. SunPower didn’t offer an earnings view, but the consensus expected 22% growth to 22 cents. During Q2, SunPower expects to deploy 360 MW to 385 MW. For the year, the company maintained its view for 1.6 gigawatts to 1.9 GW and $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion in sales “implying a second-half weighted year,” Jobin wrote. SunPower also shed light on 650 MW in projects. The lion’s share, 436 MW, will be completed in Q4. The project list includes 241 MW slated for sale to 8point3, 151 MW for third parties and 255 MW to be divvied up. The company also announced a $200 million revolver facility to focus on commercial and small-scale utility projects that will be able to fund up to 100% of construction projects. Jobin retained his outperform rating and 32 price target on SunPower stock, which was near 17 Friday afternoon.

Analysts Split On Square As Dorsey Remains Split Between Twitter

Loading the player… Payment processor Square ( SQ ) is crashing after its quarterly adjusted loss was wider than expected, reigniting questions about Jack Dorsey’s ability to lead two companies at the same time. Wedbush on Friday downgraded the stock to underperform and cut its price target to 9 from 11. The analyst projects that the company’s growth will decelerate over the next two years amid more competition and market saturation. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs believes Square is still a buy despite the pullback, saying that “continued fundamental momentum should drive the stock to recovery as the company executes.” Shares are gapping down 20% in giant volume, hitting a more than two-month low. Square initially broke out of an IPO base in late March, and drifted in and out of buy range for a month before turning lower and breaching its 50-day line in Thursday’s session. Square is now more than 30% below its all-time high. Between this disappointing report and Twitter’s ( TWTR ) last week, CEO Jack Dorsey has his work cut out for him. Twitter is trading at all-time lows and is more than 60% below its 52-week peak, but edged up 0.7% Friday. Meanwhile, Square peer PayPal ( PYPL ) is retaking its 50-day line in quick trade, up 0.9% intraday. PayPal shares are trading 7% below its all-time high reached on its first day of trade after its split from eBay ( EBAY ). Elsewhere in the payment space, Visa ( V ) is trading around sell territory after an attempted breakout past a cup base failed. Visa was essentially flat by early afternoon. And MasterCard ( MA ) is trading just below buy range from a cup-with-handle base with a 96.21 buy point it initially broke out of less than a month ago. MasterCard was also little changed by the afternoon.