Friday Movers: GoPro Inc, Activision, Yelp, Wynn Resorts, and Square Inc

Black Ops III Pushes Activision Blizzard to Big Quarter

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)’s stock has surged by more than 6% this morning after the company posted first quarter EPS of $0.23, sharply beating analysts’ estimates of $0.12. Revenue in the quarter came in at $908 million, easily beating the expected $812.12 million. Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III gave a huge boost to the company’s financial results in the quarter, being so coveted that about 85% of new buyers Sony’s PlayStation 4 gaming console during the quarter bought the Black Ops III bundle. The company also announced the new version of its Call of Duty franchise earlier this week, though the trailers reception on YouTube has been notably mixed. Revenue from the company’s digital business grew by 48% to $797 million, spurred by the company’s acquisition of King Digital last year. For the full year, the company expects EPS in the range of $1.78, slightly beneath the consensus estimate of $1.79. In a statement, Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick said that the company has strong business opportunities in the future and that the viewership of the company’s games like Call of Duty, Hearthstone, and OverWatch, could individually exceed the viewership of entire sports leagues like the NHL, NBA, and MLB.

Out of the collection of investors that we track, 53 of them had approximately $3 billion worth of long positions in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) at the end of last year. Clifford Fox‘s Columbus Circle Investors has ownership of more than 3.8 million shares of the company as of March 31.

Yelp’s Revenue Surprises

Shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) have skyrocketed by more than 17% after the company reported first quarter revenue of $158.6 million, better than the expected $156 million. The online reviews company also posted adjusted earnings of $0.08 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 per share. Local revenue growth increased by 40% year-over-year to $138.1 million. For the full year, the company expects revenue of between $690 million and $702 million. In a statement, Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said that the company hit a major milestone in the quarter by surpassing 100 million cumulative reviews.

A total of 42 hedge funds in our database were shareholders of Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) at the end of 2015. As of March 31, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had 380,865 shares of the company.

Wynn Resorts Swings to Profit

Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) reversed its losses in the first quarter, reporting net income of $75.2 million compared to the loss of $44.6 million that it suffered a year earlier. The Las Vegas-based casino company posted EPS of $1.07, better than the $0.83 that analysts had expected. Revenue in the quarter came in at $997.7 million, narrowly missing estimates of $998.5 million, and lower than the $1.09 billion in revenue it pulled in during the first quarter of last year. Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) missed its revenue projections mainly because of its declining business in Macau, a semi-autonomous territory in China where gambling is legal. The company suffered a 13.8% year-over-year drop in its Macau revenue during the quarter. Wynn Resorts’ stock is nearly flat in trading today.

Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management owned 157,309 shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) as of March 31.

Disclosure: None