Video Game Stocks to Buy and Watch (Q1 / March 2020)

Interest in gaming and esports stocks is quickly growing as the esports industry gets set to triple in size over the next few years. Audiences are growing, sponsorship deals are getting bigger, and esports revenue will rocket. Gaming was already a massive industry, and thanks in part to esports success, it too still has space to boom.

The video game stock market is split between the “pure-play” stocks of game publishers like Activision Blizzard and the stocks of technology companies that have their toes, and sometimes whole divisions, in the market. Then, of course, pure esports stock buying opportunities are emerging, as teams like Astralis publicly list and sell their shares.

1. NetEase

A primarily Chinese game developer, NetEase also distributes in China for Activision, Mojang, and others. NetEase is also present in the email, e-commerce, and music streaming sectors. As per Investor’s Business Daily and the IBD Stock Checkup, NetEase has outperformed 89% of stocks in comparable metrics over the last twelve months.

2. Activision Blizzard

Following directly behind NetEase is Activision Blizzard, as per IBD. And, TipRanks has recently given Activision Blizzard stock a “strong buy,” rating. Legendary investor George Soros made a brand new $45 million investment into the game publisher in 2019.

3. Take Two Interactive Software

The publisher of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. Take Two Interactive Software was also picked out by Zacks for expected earnings growth for the first quarter of 2020 at 3.5%. This growth appears in a wider stock sector of toys, games, and hobbies which is expected to decline by 23.3%.

4. Electronic Arts (EA)

In its recommendations for this year, Investopedia puts Electronic Arts third in its list of best value video game stocks for 2020, and second in its list of fastest-growing video game stocks. EA’s new release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sold faster in its first two weeks than any other Star Wars game.

5. Zynga

Investopedia puts Zynga top of its list for video games with the most momentum. Not so much traditional video games or esports, but still worth a mention. Zynga is known for online social games like FarmVille and Words with Friends.

These are just a few video game stocks to buy and watch this year. For esports stocks, it’s not just Astralis that could take off as a pure-play esports investment. Allied Esports and Super League Gaming both have a lot to prove too.

The number of publicly listed esports companies is sure to rise quickly. In the meantime, there are a variety of exchange traded funds (ETFs) that offer exposure to both video game and esports stocks, as well as the mixed technology giants that are a substantial part of these sectors.

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