Activision Blizzard Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday after the company beat revenue expectations but missed on earnings. The videogame maker’s shares rose 3.3% to $68 after hours. Activision reported fourth-quarter losses of $584 million, or 77 cents a share, compared with net income of $254 million, or 33 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Fourth-quarter losses included a charge of $1.03 a share due to changes in the U.S. tax code; excluding the tax-related charge, fourth-quarter earnings were 27 cents a share. Adjusted earnings were 49 cents a share. Revenue rose to $2.04 billion from $2.01 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 17 cents a share on revenue of $1.88 billion. For the fourth quarter, analysts model earnings of 53 cents a share on sales of $1.82 billion; Activision expects first-quarter earnings of 47 cents a share on revenue of $1.82 billion; it expects adjusted earnings of 65 cents a share. Activision stock has climbed 71% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index rose 17%.
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