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Activision Blizzard (ATVI) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Activision Blizzard closed at $48.20, marking a +0.67% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of "Call of Duty" and other video games had lost 11.15% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 4.28% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.99% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ATVI as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 14, 2019. In that report, analysts expect ATVI to post earnings of $1.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 39.36%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.06 billion, up 15.78% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.61 per share and revenue of $7.46 billion. These totals would mark changes of +14.47% and +4.3%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ATVI. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.87% lower. ATVI is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, ATVI is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 18.35. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 20.05, so we one might conclude that ATVI is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that ATVI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.34. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Toys - Games - Hobbies industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.34 as of yesterday's close.

The Toys - Games - Hobbies industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 173, putting it in the bottom 33% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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