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Activision Blizzard (Activision Blizzard) Earnings Power Value (EPV) : $46.42 (As of Jun23)


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What is Activision Blizzard Earnings Power Value (EPV)?

As of Jun23, Activision Blizzard's earnings power value is $46.42. *

* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.

Margin of Safety is -103.4

The basic concept of EPV is that one should value a stock based on the current free cash flow of a company and not on future projections which may, or may not, come true. It is arguably a better way to analyze stocks than Discounted Cash Flow analysis that relies on highly speculative growth assumptions many years into the future. Assumption: Current profitability is sustainable.


Activision Blizzard Earnings Power Value (EPV) Historical Data

The historical data trend for Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV) can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Activision Blizzard Earnings Power Value (EPV) Chart

Activision Blizzard Annual Data
Trend Dec13 Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22
Earnings Power Value (EPV)
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 20.16 24.36 29.94 35.31 44.58

Activision Blizzard Quarterly Data
Sep18 Dec18 Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23
Earnings Power Value (EPV) Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 34.94 35.66 44.58 45.62 46.42

Competitive Comparison of Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV)

For the Electronic Gaming & Multimedia subindustry, Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV), along with its competitors' market caps and Earnings Power Value (EPV) data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV) Distribution in the Interactive Media Industry

For the Interactive Media industry and Communication Services sector, Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV) distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV) falls into.



Activision Blizzard Earnings Power Value (EPV) Calculation

Earnings Power Value also known as just Earnings Power is a valuation technique popularised by Bruce Greenwald, an authority on value investing at Columbia University. It is arguably a better way to analyze stocks than Discounted Cash Flow analysis that relies on highly speculative growth assumptions many years into the future.

The basic concept of EPV is that one should value a stock based on the current free cash flow of a company and not on future projections which may, or may not, come true. This valuation tool excludes the potential growth that a company may have so that needs to be looked at separately. Since future growth is excluded from the analysis, only the maintenance capital expenditures are subtracted from after-tax EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and growth capex is ignored.

Activision Blizzard's "Earning Power" Calculation:

Average of Last 20 Quarters Last Quarter
Revenue 7,878
DDA 507
Operating Margin % 29.83
SGA * 25% 480
Tax Rate % 11.09
Maintenance Capex 79
Cash and Cash Equivalents 13,084
Short-Term Debt 0
Long-Term Debt 3,612
Shares Outstanding (Diluted) 794

1. Start with "Earnings" not including accounting adjustments (one-time charges not excluded unless policy has changed). "Earnings" are "Operating Income.

2. Look at average margins over a business/Industry cycle: Average Operating Margin = 29.83%

To normalize margins and eliminate the effects on profitability of valuing the firm at different points in the business cycle, it is usually best to take a long-term average of operating margins. Ideally this would be as long as 10 years and include at least one economic downturn. However, since most of companies do not have as long as 10-year history, here GuruFocus uses the latest 5 years data to do the calculation. To smooth out unusual years but reflect recent developments, we take an average of the 5 year margin.

3. Multiply average margins by sustainable revenues and then adjust for maintenance SGA. This yields "normalized" EBIT:

To be conservative, GuruFocus uses an average of the 5 year revenues as the sustainable revenue.
EPV analysis recognises that part of SG&A expenditure is made to maintain and replace the existing assets, while part is made to grow sales. Since EPV is only interested in what it costs a going concern to maintain its existing asset base, it adds back a percentage of SG&A (between 15% and 50% - this is a matter of judgment and industry knowledge) to make up for the fact that some of this expenditure went to fund growth and shouldn't be accounted for. To start off, we assume 25% for the sake of prudence.
Sustainable Revenue = $7,878 Mil, Average Operating Margin = 29.83%, Average Adjusted SGA = 480,
therefore "Normalized" EBIT = Sustainable Revenue * Average Operating Margin + Average Adjusted SGA = 7,878 * 29.83% +480 = $2829.78167 Mil.

4. Multiply by one minus Average Tax Rate (NOPAT):

Same as average operating margin calculation, GuruFocus takes an average of the 5 years tax rates.
Average Tax Rate = 11.09%, and "Normalized" EBIT = $2829.78167 Mil,
therefore After-tax "Normalized" EBIT = "Normalized" EBIT * ( 1 - Average Tax Rate ) = 2829.78167 * ( 1 - 11.09% ) = $2516.0437762471 Mil.

5. Add back Excess Depreciation (after tax at 1/2 average tax rate). This yields "normalized" Earnings:

Excess Depreciation = Average DDA * % of Excess Depreciation (after tax at 1/2 average tax rate) = 507 * 0.5 * 11.09% = $28.083371 Mil.
"Normalized" Earnings = After-tax "Normalized" EBIT + Excess Depreciation = 2516.0437762471 + 28.083371 = $2544.1271472471 Mil.

6. Adjusted for Maintenance Capital Expenditure:

First, calculate the revenue change regarding to the previous year. If the revenue decreased from the previous year, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive).
Second, if the revenue increased from the previous year, then calculate the percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue.
Third, calculate Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase.
If [Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase] was negative, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive).
If [Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase] was positive, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase.
Fourth, GuruFocus uses an average of the 5 year maintenance capital expenditures as maintenance CAPEX.
Activision Blizzard's Average Maintenance CAPEX = $79 Mil *.
* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.

7. Investors require a return of "WACC" for the risk they are taking: WACC = 9%

8. Activision Blizzard's current cash and cash equivalent = $13,084 Mil.
Activision Blizzard's current interest bearing debt = Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation + Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation = 3,612 + 0 = $3612 Mil.
Activision Blizzard's current Shares Outstanding (Diluted Average) = 794 Mil.

Activision Blizzard's Earnings Power Value (EPV) for Jun23 is calculated as:

EPV = ( ( Norm. Earnings-Maint. CAPEX *) / WACC + CashandEquiv - Int. Bearing Debt ) / Shares Outstanding (Diluted Average)
= ( ( 2544.1271472471 - 79)/ 9%+13,084-3612 )/794
=46.42

Margin of Safety (EPV)=( Earnings Power Value (EPV)-Current Price )/Earnings Power Value (EPV)
=( 46.420186779277-94.42 )/46.420186779277
= -103.4%

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.


Activision Blizzard  (NAS:ATVI) Earnings Power Value (EPV) Explanation

Assumption: Current profitability is sustainable.

Earnings power value (EPV) uses a very basic equation which assumes no growth, although it does rely on an assumption about the cost of capital as well as the fact that current earnings are sustainable. It also involves several adjustments to clean up the underlying Earnings figures.


Be Aware

Though using today's earnings in calculating Earnings Power Value, GuruFocus is normalizing these earnings to the business cycle. This eliminates the effects on profitability of valuing the firm at different points in the business cycle. This means that we are considering the average earnings over 5 years.


Activision Blizzard Earnings Power Value (EPV) Related Terms

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Activision Blizzard (Activision Blizzard) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
N/A
Address
2701 Olympic Boulevard, Building B, Santa Monica, CA, USA, 90404
Activision Blizzard was formed in 2008 by the merger of Activision, one of the largest console video game publishers, and Blizzard, one of largest PC video game publishers. The combined firm remains one of the world's largest video game publishers. Activision's impressive franchise portfolio includes World of Warcraft, which boasts more than $8 billion of lifetime sales, and Call of Duty, which has sold over 175 million copies across 14 titles over 12 years.
Executives
Julie Hodges officer: Chief People Officer C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., 2701 OLYMPIC BOULEVARD, BUILDING B, SANTA MONICA CA 90404
Peter J Nolan director 11111SANTA MONICA BLVD, STE 2000, LOS ANGELES CA 90025
Daniel Alegre officer: President and COO 9800 59TH AVENUE NORTH, MINNEAPOLIS MN 55317
Robert A Kotick director, officer: Chief Executive Officer 3100 OCEAN PARK BLVD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Brian Bulatao officer: Chief Administrative Officer C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., 3100 OCEAN PARK BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Armin Zerza officer: Chief Financial Officer C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC, 3100 OCEAN PARK BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Grant Michael Dixton officer: Chief Legal Officer C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., 3100 OCEAN PARK BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Lulu Cheng Meservey director 2701 OLYMPIC BOULEVARD, BUILDING B, SANTA MONICA CA 90404
Dawn Ostroff director 3100 OCEAN PARK BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA CA 91405
Barry Meyer director C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., 3100 OCEAN PARK BLVD., SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Reveta F Bowers director C/O ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., 3100 OCEAN PARK BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Brian G Kelly director 3100 OCEAN PARK BLVD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Robert J Morgado director 3100 OCAN PARK BLVD, SANTA MONICA CA 90405
Robert J Corti director C/O AVON PRODUCTS INC, 1345 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK NY 10105-0196
Kerry Carr director ONE MEADOWLANDS PLAZA, EAST RUTHERFORD NJ 07073