Abiomed (ABMD) (TNGO) (AH) (ATVI) (BRS) (DIOD) Price Targets Changed

Abiomed (NASDAQ: ABMD), Tangoe (NASDAQ: TNGO), Accretive Health, Inc. (NYSE: AH), Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS) and Diodes (NASDAQ: DIOD) had price targets on them adjusted by analysts.

Abiomed (ABMD) had its price target raised by Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) to $24.00.

Tangoe (TNGO) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $15.00 to $17.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Accretive Health, Inc. (AH) had its price target raised by Piper Jaffray to $16.00.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) had its price target raised by Piper Jaffray to $14.00.

Bristow Group Inc. (BRS) had its price target lowered by Barclays Capital from $54.00 to $50.00. They have an “Equal Weight” rating on the company.

Diodes (DIOD) had its price target raised by Morgan Keegan to $27.00.

Adobe (ADBE) (ALSK) (TNDM) (ATVI) (BBEP) Ratings Reiterated

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE), Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALSK), Neutral Tandem Inc. (NASDAQ: TNDM), Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Breitburn Energy (NASDAQ: BBEP) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

Oppenheimer reiterated its “Market Perform” rating on "Adobe Systems (ADBE).

Oppenheimer reiterated its “Market Perform” rating on Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. (ALSK).

Oppenheimer reiterated its “Neutral” rating on Neutral Tandem Inc. (TNDM).

Brean Murray reiterated its “Buy” rating on Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI). They have a price target of $15.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer reiterated its “Outperform” rating on Breitburn Energy (BBEP). They have a price target of $23.00 on the company.

CVS (CVS) (ATVI) (INSU) (BKD) (CWTR) (CSTR) Ratings Reiterated

CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), Insituform Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: INSU), Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (NYSE: BKD), Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR) and Coinstar (NASDAQ: CSTR) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated its "Buy" rating on CVS Caremark (CVS).

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC) reiterated its "Neutral" rating on Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI).

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated its "Buy" rating on Insituform Technologies, Inc. (INSU).

Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its "Buy" rating on Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (BKD).

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated its "Hold" rating on Coldwater Creek Inc. (CWTR).

Merriman Curhan Ford reiterated its "Buy" rating on Coinstar (CSTR).

Lorillard (LO) (MHS) (ERTS) (ATVI) (EXPE) (SYMC) Ratings Reiterated

Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO), Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) have ratings reiterated by analysts.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS).

BMC Equities reiterated a "Hold" rating Research Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS).

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Expedia, Inc. (EXPE).

BMC Equities Research reiterated a "Buy" rating on Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI). They have a price target of $15.00 on the company.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Lorillard Inc. (LO). They have a price target of $122.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer reiterated an "Outperform" rating on Symantec (SYMC). They have a price target of $21.00 on the company.

EPS on (ATVI) (GMCR) (LPX) (MGA) (NVDA) Updated

EPS estimates on Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), Louisiana-Pacific Co. (NYSE: LPX), Magna International Inc. (NYSE: MGA) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) updated by analysts.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) raised their EPS estimate on Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI). They have a “buy” rating and a price target of $14.00 on the company.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) raised their EPS estimate on Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR). They have a “buy” rating and a price target of $90.00 on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) cut their EPS estimate on Louisiana-Pacific Co. (LPX). They have a “sell” rating and a price target of $7.25 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised their EPS estimate on Magna International Inc. (MGA). They have a “neutral” rating and a price target of $58.00 on the company. That's up from $57.00.

UBS AG raised their EPS estimate on NVIDIA (NVDA). They have a “neutral” rating and a price target of $20.00 on the company.

Coverage on (MCGC) (ATVI) (MYRG) (PACB) (SREV) Reiterated

Coverage on MCG Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:MCGC), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), MYR Group (NASDAQ:MYRG), Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) and ServiceSource International (NASDAQ:SREV) reiterated by analysts.

FBR Capital Markets analysts reiterated an "Outperform" rating on MCG Capital Corporation (MCGC). They have a price target of $7 on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on Activision Blizzard (ATVI). They have a price target of $15 on the company.

FBR Capital Markets analysts reiterated an "Outperform" rating on MYR Group (MYRG).

Deutsche Bank analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB). They have a price target of $16.50 on the company.

Deutsche Bank analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on ServiceSource International (SREV). They have a price target of $22 on the company, up from $20.

EA (ERTS) Ups Ante in (ATVI) Battle

The battle royal between Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) and Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq:ATVI) has been raised a notch as EA has launched a $100 million marketing campaign in hopes of making a dent in Activision's Black Ops behemoth.

After seeing its Medal of Honor game fail last fall, executives are setting their hopes on Battlefield 3 to take down Activision's Call of Duty franchise. And the stakes have gotten even larger after Black Ops generated $360 million of sales in its first 24 hours on the market.

Electronic Arts is striking back with a $100 million ad campaign that has the appearance of desperation written all over it. And Activision is playing defense by keeping Call of Duty users entertained with new content packs until its next release is out

EA has an uphill battle in trying to overcome the fastest-selling video game of all time. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sold 2.3 million units in March 2010, but that doesn't come even close to Call of Duty.

Electronic Arts closed Tuesday at $19.74, falling $0.11, or 0.55 percent. Activision closed at $11.02, down $0.11, or 0.99 percent.

Electronic Arts (ERTS) (THQI) (ATVI) (NTDOY.PK) Expected to Lead March Game Sales

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter gave his preview of gaming sales leaders in March, expecting offerings from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), THQ (NASDAQ:THQI), Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Nintendo (OTC:NTDOY.PK) to lead the way.

Pachter noted: We expect March sales to be led by new releases Electronic Arts’ Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) and Dragon Age II (360, PS3, PC), Nintendo’s Pokémon Black and White (DS), and THQ’s Homefront (360, PS3, PC), with continued strong sales of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2.

Other outlooks for March from Pachter:


* We expect March U.S. retail video game console software sales data to be released by the NPD Group after the market close on Thursday, April 14.

* We forecast software sales of $805 million, down 8% compared to last year’s $876 million, the fourth consecutive month of negative growth.

* Despite a strong release slate featuring two new Pokémon games and a pair of high-profile first-person shooters, we believe growth is unlikely due to a difficult comp of +10%, the Nintendo 3DS’ late-March release date (March 27) and relatively modest marketing campaign, and an unfavorable comparison to the Easter calendar shift.

* We expect hardware sales of 410,000 Wii units (down 26% year-over-year), 480,000 Xbox 360 units (up 42% y-o-y), 380,000 PS3 units (up 21% y-o-y), and 500,000 3DS units in its debut month due to strong pre-orders.

* Despite the long-awaited introduction of the Nintendo 3DS, we believe the industry outlook remains unclear.

Electronic Arts was trading at $19.64, down $0.21, or 1.06 percent, as of 1:37 PM EDT. THQ was at $4.42, falling $0.12, or 2.64 percent. Activision was trading at $11.01, dropping $0.12, or 1.12 percent.

Gamers Like (ATVI)(CCOEF)(UBSFF)(MSFT)(SNE) Could Get Boost on Stonger-Than-Expected Sales

Software sales from gaming companies came in higher than expected last month, as hardware sale soared beyond projections, with companies like Activision-Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), Unisoft (UBSFF), Capcom (CCOEF), Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) expected to benefit.

Gaming sales in February fell by 5 percent from last year, but analysts had been looking for a drop of 6 to 10 percent.

Activision-Blizzard's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" was again the top selling game for the fourth consecutive month. Capcom (CCOEF) battled its way into the number two with its new release "Marvel vs. Capcom 3," while Ubisoft's (UBSFF) "Just Dance 2" dropped to third place.

With hardware sales soaring, analysts say it could result in the gaming side getting more robust.

Another unknown is the impact the release of Nintendo's (NTDOY) 3DS system will have on the software side of the business. It has been a huge hit in Japan, and will be released in the latter part of March.

For the overall sector, sales rose by 4 percent over February 2010.

Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox Sales Up 15 Percent on Kinect Demand

The overall videogame segment suffered a dismal January, as sales were down and no company but Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) with their Xbox was able to grow console sales year-over-year.

Microsoft said Thursday they sold 381,000 Xbox units in January, a 15 percent boost over January 2010. The company claims theirs was the only console showing growth for the month.

They could have sold a lot more consoles except for shortages driven by continuing demand for Kinect. Microsoft said that should show improvement throughout February.

According to NPD Group the only positive news for the overall sector was in accessories, which includes Microsoft's Kinect, which obviously was the story there as well.

Sale for accessories in January jumped to $235.1 percent, a six percent gain for the industry over last year.

The bad news in January for videogame software was sales dropped to $576 million, down 5 percent from last January. Hardware sales were worse, falling to $324 million, an eight percent plunge.

The top five selling games in January were Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2, Electronic Arts’ (ERTS) Dead Space 2, Sony’s (SNE) Little Big Planet 2, and Majesco’s (COOL) Zumba Fitness.

Activision (Nasdaq:ATVI) Files $400 Million Lawsuit Against EA (Nasdaq:ERTS)

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) is the recipient of a $400 million lawsuit from Activision Over the alleged poaching of two former executives still under contract with them.

The two employees, Vince Zampella and Jason West, filed a $36 million lawsuit against Activision last March, saying they were fired because the company didn't want to continue paying them royalties on the lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise.

Activision claims Electronic Arts lured the two away from them via Creative Artists Agency. The two have formed a new company named Respawn Entertainment, which will develop games exclusively for Electronic Arts.

The new company hired 40 people away from Activision, generating even more hostility.

Claims against Electronic Arts are they deliberately interfered with the existing contracts of West and Zampella.

Activision says the two never did any direct work on "Black Op," which is poised to become one of the top selling games of all time, and was already in seventh place after less than one month: November. The game was released November 9, and sales remain brisk.

According to Activision, Black Ops has already surpassed $1 billion in sales.

Activision closed Tuesday at $12.23, up 0.02, or 0.16 percent. Electronic Arts closed at $15.93, up $0.08, or 0.50 percent.

Activision's (Nasdaq:ATVI) Black Ops Surpasses $1 Billion Sales Mark

Activision's (Nasdaq:ATVI) videogame juggernaut, “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” has soared past the $1 billion mark in sales, only about a month and a half since its launch on November 9, according to a release by Activision.

In November Activision sold 8.4 million units of Black Ops, making it the No. 7 best-selling game of all-time, with lots of momentum going into the Christmas season.

Black Ops generated sales of $650 million in its first five days of release, making it the fastest-selling game in that time period of all-time.

Activision closed Tuesday at $12.23, up $0.02, or 0.16 percent.

Activision Blizzard's (Nasdaq:ATVI) Black Ops Surpassing Expectations

Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq:ATVI) couldn't be happier with their flagship product Black Ops, as their latest installment, “Call of Duty: Black Ops” has already far exceeded expectations, generating sales of over $650 million in the first five days it was available.

Reviews of the game have been strong in the early days as well, suggesting sales should remain sustainable heading into the Christmas season.

Consensus at this time is Black Ops could sell as many as 15 million units.

Activision closed Friday at $11.68, dropping $0.04, or 0.36. Trading volume was a little below the 3-month daily average.