Goldman Sachs Has Buy on Activision Blizzard

Goldman Sachs is out with a research report on Activision Blizzard, Inc.

and it has a Buy rating and a $16 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs writes, "Activision reported a beat and raise, with 3Q2011 EPS of $0.07 vs our $0.02 estimate and 2011 EPS guidance of $0.85 vs $0.77 prior, implicitly raising 4Q on a constructive view of Call of Duty and Skylanders. A decline in World of Warcraft (WoW) subscribers to 10.2 mn vs 11.1 mn in 2Q, driven by Asia (a lower ARPU region) tempered this news. We raise our 2011 EPS to $0.85 from $0.81 on the beat. Other year estimates are unchanged. We remain Buy-rated, and believe dips on WoW sub concerns could be an opportunity to build positions. Activision carries over $2/share in cash." Shares of ATVI are down 13 cents in pre-market trading to $13.80, a loss of 0.9%.