Activision Blizzard's Gaming Success: Beating Revenue And EPS Estimates

released its Q2 results before the open on Thursday. Earnings per share came in above Wall Street consensus expectations,sending shares up 2.25 percent. Activision Blizzard reported EPS of $0.45 and revenues of $1.57 billion. Analyst consensus had an EPS estimate of $0.42 and revenues of $1.46 billion.

Activision Management saw CY16 EPS at $1.83 vs. estimates of $1.88 an sales of $6.4 billion vs. $6.38 billion estimates. Additionally, Activision saw Q3 EPS at about $0.39 vs. $0.36 estimates and Q3 revenues of $1.49 billion vs. $1.51 billion estimates. Blizzard's MAUs were 33 million, up 29 percent from last quarter and 13 percent year over year. Management attributes Blizzard's success to the successful launch of Overwatch and strength in Hearthstone and World of Warcraft. With Overwatch's incredibly successful launch, Call of Duty's record first half performance, and Candy Crush's continued growth as key drivers of our overall performance, we delivered a record Q2," stated Bobby Kotick, CEO. "The lynchpin of our current success and our future growth is our talent. Our teams have the unique combination of passion, entrepreneurial spirit and inspired creativity. The success of Overwatch, our newest franchise, is a testament to this talent. I'm grateful to our over 10,000 employees, each of whom embodies these characteristics of our culture," said Kotick. At the time of writing, Activision Blizzard traded at $41.75 in Thursday's pre-market session, up 2.25 percent.