"Game On" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.
NPD Q1: On Friday, the NPD Group said that overall total industry consumer spending on video gaming in the U.S. reached a record $10.86B in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 9% compared to the same time period last year. Sales of video game content reached $9.58B in Q1, up 11% when compared to a year ago. Gains were seen across digital console and PC content, mobile and subscription spending, as well as across hardware and accessories categories. NPD added that strong growth in sales of Nintendo Switch (NTDOY) hardware and software helped to offset declines across other hardware platforms, leading the overall video game hardware market to increase 2% in the quarter, to $773M. Sales of video game accessories, including gamepads, headsets, cases and other peripherals increased 1% in Q1, reaching $503M.
PIPER SURVEY: Late last week, Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar said that the firm recently surveyed 1,000 Americans about their video game habits both during and after the coronavirus stay-at-home order. The analyst said that, overall, the survey is positive for the video game industry, as the average individual is spending more than 2.5 times playing video games compared to 2018 averages while staying-at-home. In addition, Kumar said that over 60% of respondents expect to spend as much time or more playing video games once the stay-at-home order is lifted, and that within the broader gaming industry, Piper views Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Electronic Arts (EA), Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), AMD (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) favorably, along with Akamai (AKAM) and Fastly (FSLY) in the media content delivery network space.
TENCENT: Chinese multinational Tencent (TCEHY) reported Q1 earnings last week that were ahead of Wall Street expectations. Amid the global coronovirus pandemic, homebound Chinese consumers looked to video games, which helped fuel Tencent's quarterly net profit growth of 6% from the same period last year. The company noted that online game revenues grew 31% year-over-year, with the increase primarily reflecting revenue contributions from domestic smartphone games such as "Peacekeeper Elite" and "Honour of Kings," as well as increased contributions from its overseas titles, including "PUBG Mobile" and "Clash of Clans," partly offset by lower revenues from PC client games such as "DnF."
OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:
Nintendo
+ (+0.00%)
acquired by MSFT
+0.82 (+1.13%)
Electronic Arts
+1.08 (+0.92%)
Take-Two
+5.18 (+3.82%)
AMD
+1.74 (+3.19%)
Nvidia
+9.81 (+2.80%)
Akamai
+0.53 (+0.54%)
Fastly
+1.47 (+3.77%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
KKR
+0.27 (+1.04%)
Disney
-1.29 (-1.10%)
Symbol now SONY
-0.5 (-0.78%)
Microsoft
+0.82 (+0.44%)
Ubisoft
+ (+0.00%)
Apple
+2.26 (+0.72%)
Alphabet
+2.97 (+0.21%)
Alphabet
+1.66 (+0.12%)