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Activision Blizzard (ATVI) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Activision Blizzard closed at $45.14, marking a -1.27% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.62% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.25%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.74%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of "Call of Duty" and other video games had gained 0.11% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 1.02% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.8% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ATVI as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be August 8, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.26, down 36.59% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.20 billion, down 13.64% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.19 per share and revenue of $6.44 billion, which would represent changes of -15.77% and -11.34%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ATVI. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.83% lower within the past month. ATVI is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ATVI has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.9 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.25.

Also, we should mention that ATVI has a PEG ratio of 2.07. 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 2.07 as of yesterday's close.

The Toys - Games - Hobbies industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 16, which puts it in the top 7% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow ATVI in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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