Electronic Arts Looks To Fulfill Its Destiny With 'Star Wars: Battlefront II'

The upcoming launch of "Star Wars: Battlefront II" on Nov. 17 is emerging as the biggest event for Electronic Arts Inc. EA for the upcoming year.

Coming off a second quarter that saw sales down 19 percent year over year, EA is banking on the strength of its "Star Wars" franchise to generate new growth in the upcoming year.

Jefferies: Reiterates Buy, Ups Price Target To $138

According to Jefferies analyst Timothy O’Shea, if "Star Wars" can encourage users to spend real money on virtual goods, like it has with "FIFA," “the game could drive meaningful upside in F’18 and ’19 EPS,” he said.

Launching just in time for the holidays, EA has stated that "Battlefront 2" could sell 14 million units in the first year, but the swing factor will be the in-game monetization strategy.

The game's "pay to win" element is receiving criticism from beta testers, however, and may force the company to scale back on some of its in-game monetization plans. 

Despite a potential scale back, Jefferies remains bullish on EA, citing a multitude of powerful tailwinds, including more mobile, downloads and in-game spending. The firm raised its price target from $135 to $138 and maintains a Buy rating.

KeyBanc: Maintains Overweight Rating, Keeps PT At $134

KeyBanc is also staying bullish on EA, and believes that the company’s short- and medium-term performance will rest on the "Battlefront 2" and driving revenue growth through expansion of live services and mobile.

“We expect that as adoption and comfort around the current cycle of consoles increase and downloading games digitally grows, the pace of digital downloads will accelerate,” said KeyBanc analyst Evan Wingren.

KeyBanc maintains an Overweight rating on the stock, with a $134 price target.

Despite analysts maintaining a bullish stance on Electronic Arts, shares fell 5 percent post-earnings.

At publication, shares of Electronic Arts were down 4.42 percent at $114.31.