Dumped Activision (ATVI) After Hours

by Michael Comeau on August 5, 2009

Reposted from LongShortTrader.com:

I just wanted to give you folks a quick note – I sold Activision (ATVI) after hours. The guidance just wasn’t strong enough for my liking, even when factoring in the delays of Starcraft 2 and Singularity.

The market’s had a huge run and the stock trades at a significant premium to Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) and THQ (THQI), where I see more upside in the near term. So it made more sense to just dump the stock and take the tax loss now – I don’t want to hope it rallies just when the market seems to be turning down. This move also frees up cash for other trading ideas I’m throwing around.

And a quick update on Perfect World (PWRD) – I sold the August $40 call options against my common stock position. The stock’s been ripping and I’m in a hold mentality – I definitely don’t want to buy it, but I don’t think it’s quite fully valued yet. So if the stock keeps going up, I’ll be forced to sell at about $41.14 – about 11% higher from here. Covered calls don’t always make sense but in this case I believe it’s the best way to play.

The company reports earnings on August 10th and I believe a significant beat is already priced into the stock price – so it could easily sell off in the event of an upside surprise.

Related posts:

  1. Bought some Activision Blizzard This Morning
  2. January NPD Data – Activision and THQ Still Kicking Ass
  3. ATVI/ERTS Earnings Previews

{ 1 trackback }

atvi - StartTags.com
January 29, 2010 at 5:43 pm

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

dontworrybehuppy August 6, 2009 at 7:38 pm

Bad call, man.

Baaaaaad call.

I read the blog for the good analysis but I simply can't understand how your analysis justified selling the stock in a panic AH. Just waiting a few hours would have given a vastly different outcome.

Michael Comeau August 7, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Yes, it was a TERRIBLE call! I'm kicking myself awfully hard right now.

Oh the embarassment of playing with an open book…

dontworrybehuppy August 10, 2009 at 9:50 pm

I'll still keep reading, there's some good info here :-) .

And it's a refreshing change to see someone on the net shoot themselves in the foot a bit and have the balls to admit it without censoring. Reading the net/blogs, you get the impression everyone makes money every time!

Good luck!

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: