Why Did Video Game Stocks (ATVI, TCEHY, EA) Sink Today?

Shares of video game giants—including Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) , Take Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) , and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) —sank on Monday after a bearish analyst report on the state of the industry.

Today’s cautionary take comes from Cowen. The investment banking firm downgraded several industry giants, including Take-Two and Activision, as well as Ubisoft Entertainment (OTC:UBSFY) .

Shares of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard dropped by over 3%, while industry peer Electronic Arts stock fell by more than 1.50%. Shares of Take-Two Interactive, which makes NBA 2K and other big-name video game titles, tanked by over 4%.

Interestingly enough, Cowen’s note comes in contrast to other recent analyst coverage. Just last week, Barclays’ analyst Ryan Gee started coverage on four of the biggest video game companies. Gee gave Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $129 a share, which marked a roughly 7.42% upside to last week’s closing price.

Part of the reason for Gee’s initial bullish coverage is because he thinks EA’s Live Services’ revenues will grow over the next two years.

The analyst also initiated coverage of Take-Two Interactive with an “Overweight” rating and a $115 price target. Take-Two’s $115 per share price target marked a nearly 7.25% upside compared to Friday’s closing price of $107.23 a share. Gee noted that Take-Two is monetizing popular video games more effectively compared to its peers.

Gee also initiated coverage of video game powerhouse Activision Blizzard with an “Equal-Weight” rating along with a $65 a share price target, which marked a 2.77% upside to Friday’s closing price.

Still, despite these recent relatively bullish Barclays’ rating, shares of all four of these companies sunk on Monday.

Sales Projections

This downgrade and brief investor retreat comes just a few days before market research firm NPD Group is set to release its September video game sales report.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Drew Crum expects that the Oct. 12 report will be very important for investors, as it includes some the industry’s biggest games—including NBA 2K18 and FIFA 18. The analyst projects overall video game sales will gain about 20%, while hardware and console sales will fall year-over-year.

Crum expects Activision Blizzard’s September sales will be $90 million—up from $20 million a year ago, due in large part to the recent release of Destiny 2. He projects Take Two Interactive’s sales will fall in the high-single digits to $100 million, while Electronic Arts sales are projected to gain slightly to hit approximately $80 million.

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