NetEase (NTES) stock soared higher today after the video game company saw Marvel Rivals, its hero shooter featuring Disney’s (DIS) Marvel characters, reach a new all-time high in players. The official Marvel Rivals X account confirmed the game has hit 2.5 million players. This coincided with the launch of Season 1 last week, which drew in new players.
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The increased interest in Marvel Rivals with its Season 1 launch resulted in the game hitting a new all-time high concurrent player count on Steam. The game peaked at 644,269 players late on Friday night, the first day of Season 1. The game has also managed to maintain a high player count in the following days, with its 24-hour peak sitting at 522,899. As of this writing, 276,268 gamers are playing Marvel Rivals on Steam.
This news excited investors today, with shares of NTES stock up 2.72% as of this writing. The stock is also up 7.23% over the last 52 weeks. Today’s rise comes with strong trading as 1.1 million units change hands compared to a three-month daily average of 1.07 million.
What This Means for NetEase Stock
Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play game, meaning NetEase doesn’t generate revenue from unit sales. Instead, the company relies on microtransactions for revenue. That includes its battle pass, which launches at the start of each season. This offers various skins and cosmetics as rewards for playing the game.
Outside of the battle pass, players can also purchase skins and other cosmetics from the Marvel Rivals in-game shop. That’s another source of revenue for NetEase as this shop contains digital goods that aren’t available in the battle pass. With 2.5 million players, NetEase is likely enjoying considering sales of its battle pass and other cosmetics.
Is NTES Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for NetEase is Strong Buy based on seven Buy and two Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $108.50, a high of $125.50, and a low of $82. This represents a potential 15.89% upside for NTES shares.
