Stifel Maintains Buy on Activision Blizzard

In a report published Friday, Stifel analyst Drew Crum maintained a Buy rating on Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), raising its price target from $21.00 to $22.00.

According to the report, the Diablo III expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, is set to release on March 25, strengthening 1H14.

“More on Reaper of Souls – we forecast 4.5 million units for '14, which implies conversion of about 30% of the installed base (14 million+ copies of Diablo III sold across PC and consoles),” the report noted. “The game will initially be available for PC + Mac ($40 for digital standard edition), and PS4 at a later date. Reaper of Souls (pre-orders) is currently ranked as the #7 title on amazon.com's best selling PC titles.”

ATVI remains top pick entering 2014 due to:

-A better line-up of titles with Destiny serving as the primary catalyst. -The new gen console cycle. -Follow-through from the vivendi transaction. -Reasonable valuation (12.9x 2014E FCF)

ATVI closed Thursday at $18.30.