Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced first-quarter 2021 results. For the quarter ended March 31, 2021, Activision Blizzard’s net revenues presented in accordance with GAAP were $2.28 billion, as compared with $1.79 billion for the first quarter of 2020. GAAP net revenues from digital channels were $2.01 billion. GAAP operating margin was 35%. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.79, as compared with $0.65 for the first quarter of 2020. On a non-GAAP basis, Activision Blizzard’s operating margin was 43% and earnings per diluted share were $0.98, as compared with $0.76 for the first quarter of 2020.

For the quarter, operating cash flow was $844 million, as compared with $148 million for the first quarter of 2020. For the trailing twelve-month period, operating cash flow was $2.95 billion.

Please refer to the tables at the back of this press release for a reconciliation of the company’s GAAP and non-GAAP results.

Operating Metrics

For the quarter ended March 31, 2021, Activision Blizzard’s net bookings^B  were $2.07 billion, as compared with $1.52 billion for the first quarter of 2020. In-game net bookings^C  were $1.34 billion as compared with $0.96 billion for the first quarter of 2020.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2021, overall Activision Blizzard Monthly Active Users (MAUs)^D  were 435 million.

Selected Business Highlights

Activision Blizzard significantly exceeded its prior outlook for the first quarter, delivering very strong growth across our largest franchises. Our increased investment in our largest franchises is enabling us to connect and engage people in more ways than ever before. Despite ongoing challenges from working from home, our creative and commercial teams are executing strongly. Their work drove another quarter of fantastic results for  Call of Duty ^®,  World of Warcraft ^®,  and  Candy Crush^TM, and we continue to make great progress on our pipeline, positioning us for ongoing strong results through the remainder of this year and into 2022 and beyond.

Activision

• Activision segment revenue grew 72% year-over-year, driven by  Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War  and  Warzone^TM  in-game revenues, strong premium sales, and  Call of Duty Mobile. Segment operating income more than doubled year-over-year.
• The introduction of  Call of Duty  free-to-play and mobile experiences has transformed the franchise, more than tripling franchise MAUs^D  over the last two years, and leading Activision to a new record of 150 million MAUs^D  in the first quarter.
• Call of Duty  franchise MAUs^D  increased sequentially and grew over 40% year-over-year in the first quarter.
• Following its integration with  Warzone,  Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War  saw premium sales well above the levels typically seen in the first quarter.
• Call of Duty  in-game net bookings^C  on console and PC grew more than 60% year-over-year. The first two seasons of  Black Ops Cold War  and  Warzone  content were both in the top-three seasons in  Call of Duty  history for in-game net bookings^C. The third season, launched in April, is sustaining this strong run-rate, tracking in-line with the first two seasons.
• Call of Duty Mobile  saw strong year-over-year growth in reach, engagement, and player investment in the first quarter, benefiting from ongoing enhancements in the West and the launch of the title in China. In the West, the March season concluded as the highest for player investment yet. Momentum has continued into the second quarter, with the April season now the top-grossing to date at this point after launch. In China,  Call of Duty Mobile  brought tens of millions of new players to the franchise, with player investment in the first quarter on par with the rest of the world combined.
• The 2021 season of the professional Call of Duty League^TM  is off to a great start, enjoying strong year-over-year growth in average minute audience through the first two stages of competition.

Support vets this #MilitaryAppreciationMonth with your purchase of the Battle Doc Pack!

This 6-item pack was created in partnership with (Ret.) U.S. Army Combat Medical Badge recipient SFC Timothy “Doc” Hobbs Jr., who served on 4 combat deployments + 1 humanitarian mission. pic.twitter.com/FGlOAGFbAH

— Call of Duty Endowment (@CODE4Vets) May 3, 2021

Blizzard

• Blizzard segment revenue grew 7% year-over-year, led by strong growth in the  Warcraft ^®  franchise, with  World of Warcraft’s  Shadowlands  expansion building on the substantial increase in scale seen since the launch of  World of Warcraft Classic  in 2019. Blizzard had 27 million MAUs^D  in the first quarter.
• World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands  expansion continued to drive strong results following its record-setting release in November, with first quarter franchise net bookings^B  growing sharply year-over-year.  World of Warcraft  saw strong reach, engagement and participation in value added services, along with a particularly high number of new players joining the community for the first time, boosted by initiatives to enhance the onboarding experience.
• Hearthstone ^®’s latest expansion,  Forged in the Barrens^TM, launched on March 30 and is on track to deliver expansion-over-expansion net bookings^B  growth for the second consecutive release.
• Ahead of its launch later this year,  Diablo ^®  II: Resurrected  saw very positive feedback during early testing in April and online viewership of the alpha test was the highest ever for a Blizzard game test.
• On mobile,  Diablo ^®  Immortal^TM  entered its second phase of testing and is on track for global release later this year.
• April saw  Overwatch ^®  fans around the world return to celebrate players and city-based teams in the opening weekend of the 2021 season of Overwatch League^TM. The league signed a multi-year partnership with Bilibili Esports for exclusive rights to broadcast league games to the platform’s passionate and growing Overwatch League fanbase in China.

King

• King segment revenue reached a new record, growing 22% year-over-year, driven by strong growth for  Candy Crush. King had 258 million MAUs^D  in the first quarter.
• King’s initiatives to broaden the payer base, deliver more frequent seasonal events and introduce compelling new features into  Candy Crush  and other portfolio titles drove in-game net bookings^C  growth in the high-teens percentage year-over-year.
• Candy Crush  grew in-game net bookings^C  very strongly year-over-year and was once again the top grossing franchise in the U.S. app stores¹.
• In-game net bookings^C  for  Farm Heroes^TM, King’s second-largest franchise, also grew sharply year-over-year.
• King’s in-game net bookings^C  have remained strong into the second quarter, continuing to grow well year-over-year.
• Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!^TM  launched on March 25 and has seen over 30 million downloads to-date.
• King delivered 70% year-over-year growth in advertising net bookings^B  in the first quarter, with significant increases across both direct brand advertisers and partner networks.

“Our employees continue to demonstrate exceptional performance under challenging circumstances,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “That relentless drive across our franchises produced strong first quarter results that were well ahead of expectations. Our continued overperformance enables us to raise our outlook for the full year.”

CWEB Analyst’s have initiated a BUY Rating for   Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and potential upside of $148 in 2021. The fundamentals of the company are to strong and even after the hard hit post pandemic recovery Activision has provide strong Q1 well ahead of expectation. We believe that the Q2 will deliver bigger results for shareholders.