“Important Inflection Point” Gives Electronic Arts Stock (NASDAQ:EA) a Boost

The video game market is proving a bit rough lately, especially as we start to look to the next generation of console gaming, and discover that things are looking, perhaps, the strangest they have looked in a long time. Roth Capital analysts offered up word about gaming stock Electronic Arts (EA), and generally approve of what they see coming. Investors also approved, somewhat, and notched shares up fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.

Roth Capital analyst Eric Handler—who has a five-star rating on TipRanks—not only upgraded EA from a Neutral to a Buy, but also bolstered the price target, sending it from $175 to $185. That makes for about 20% upside potential against the closing figures on Monday.

Handler noted that sports games stand as a “…blue-chip cornerstone…” for EA, but there was also quite a bit of potential elsewhere, particularly in line of a new Battlefield game. Handler said, “We see EA at an important inflection point setting it up well for an elevated, multi-year growth trajectory.” In fact, with several new games on the way, like Skate and Star Wars:Zero Company, that could pave the way for double-digit earnings growth in as little as the next three years.

A Crysis Crisis

But EA also delivered a bit of a blow to users, particularly those still playing Crysis on Steam. In fact, those players apparently no longer exist. EA pulled Crysis from Steam, reports note, and instead told players to migrate to EA Play, EA’s own platform. Though to be fair, Crysis had already been pulled once, back in 2021, but players could still get in through Crysis Maximum Edition. Maximum Edition was ultimately pulled from Steam on June 20.

The fact that the original Crysis is available to purchase over at Good Old Games—and for a 75% discount running until July 10—is likely to be a bit of a sticking point in EA’s plans here. While there is a certain value in consolidating platforms, and focusing on in-house operations, EA limiting where players can play is not exactly a great idea going forward.

Is Electronic Arts a Good Stock to Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on EA stock based on 11 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.8% rally in its share price over the past year, the average EA price target of $170.76 per share implies 9.45% upside potential.

See more EA analyst ratings

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