- Microsoft bid $69 billion for Activision Blizzard this week, sending gaming stocks soaring.
- Equity strategists have identified 16 publicly-listed gaming companies as stocks to buy, according to TipRanks.
- Insider lists Wall Street’s top video gaming stock picks.
The video gaming industry hit headlines earlier this week, as CNBC and the Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft’s $69 billion bid for gaming creator Activision Blizzard.
Activision stock soared by up to 38% to around $90 per share after the news broke, while Microsoft fell by about 1%. The deal wiped $20 billion off of rival Sony’s market value as analysts noted Microsoft can now make some of Activision’s most popular games, including the “Call of Duty” franchise, exclusive to its Xbox consoles.
Both Microsoft and Activision have received “buy” ratings from Wall Street’s top stock pickers, according to TipRanks‘s analyst consensus metric. That’s despite recent allegations that Activision’s chief executive Bobby Kotick knew for years about sexual misconduct claims at the company, which caused its stock price to plumment 40% in the months before Microsoft’s bid became public.
“Broader consumer reach gives Microsoft growth optionality across a variety of monetization channels via subscription, in-app purchasing, advertising, and content purchasing,” Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin wrote in a recent research note, in which he set a share price target of $352. “We are equally bullish on the long-term opportunity for share gain potential in advertising and gaming as the Activision Blizzard-King content is repurposed across cloud, mobile, AR, VR, and the metaverse.”
Wall Street analysts have identified 16 publicly listed gaming companies as stocks to buy, according to TipRanks. GameStop doesn’t make their list, despite its recent announcement of plans to launch an NFT marketplace.
“[GameStop’s] management failed to provide clarity around a long-awaited digital transformation plan that has been hinted at in the past but has yet to crystallize,” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a recent note. “Instead, management spared a few details with respect to shipping, headcount expansion, a new credit facility, and the potential of exploring blockchain technology.”
Insider breaks down the 16 gaming stocks that have received ‘buy’ ratings from Wall Street analysts below. Seven of them have an upside of over 50%, according to TipRanks.