UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Upgrades Activision Blizzard to Overweight on Fundamentals and Sentiment

Piper Jaffray raised its rating on Activision Blizzard

from Neutral to Overweight and increased its price target from $13 to $14. Piper Jaffray commented, "We are upgrading shares of ATVI to Overweight ahead of a fall line-up that includes a new Skylanders, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty titles. Activision has out-executed peers during recent periods, yet the stock has remained range-bound amid lukewarm investor sentiment. Looking ahead, a streamlined franchise-focused portfolio is positioned to outperform conservative expectations and sentiment is positioned to improve as risk-averse investors discover the reliability of Activision's business model. An increasingly Blizzard-centric pipeline and third iteration of Skylanders should help to "cushion" fundamentals as we transition to the next console." Activision Blizzard closed at $11.82 on Wednesday.