Activision Shares Soar on Strong Game Sales

The Santa Monica, California-based company said late Thursday that revenue was higher due to strong sales of its "Guitar Hero 3" and "Call of Duty 4" video games.

Shares of Activision rose $3.94, or 14.2 percent, to close at $31.64.

Net income for the quarter was $44.2 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with a loss of $14.4 million in the last quarter, or 5 cents per share.

Excluding stock options costs, Activision earned $54.9 million or 17 cents per share, more than the 5 cents expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue soared 93 percent to $602.5 million. Analysts had expected sales of $373.6 million.

Late last year, Activision agreed to merge with Vivendi's games unit to create Activision Blizzard. Today's stock move gives Vivendi a 15 percent premium over the Activision shares it agreed to buy in December for $27.50.

Activision said that it expects earnings of 13 cents per share for the current quarter, excluding special items, with revenue of $500 million.