Okay, this isn't an easy one. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is, as I write this, down 9.8% to $10.54. The intraday low so far is $10.51. The 52-week low is $9.99; the 52-week high is $12.65. The volume number is huge, way above average. There's the price perspective; what about some fundamental news? Management released earnings results for the fourth quarter yesterday after the bell. They weren't bad, really: non-GAAP income increased four pennies to 53 cents per share. This was two pennies ahead of the estimate, according to Earnings.com. But there were a couple items in the report that made traders want to bolt.

Let's start with the big headline. You see, the Guitar Hero asset, a peripheral/software system once well-known as a game with high quantities of play value, is now more famous (then again, infamous might be the preferred term) for its crashing popularity. Execs at the publisher have decided that it is no longer in the interest of shareholder value to continue making titles. Hey, Viacom (VIA.B) is no longer interested in Rock Band, so this does make a bit of sense, right?

Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) is trading down this afternoon. At the time of this writing, the video-game publisher behind the Call of Duty series was off by over 4% to $10.82. Volume was heavy.

That's an interesting move for the stock, because it may be an opportunity for very short-term traders who are willing to take on extremely significant risk. I haven't felt comfortable about an Activision Blizzard trade for a long time. I would love for the shares to dip below $10 at some point; then, I might have reason to start a position.

It's becoming a bit of a broken record, but the refrain "another challenging month" does apply to the current market environment. There were a host of factors influencing stocks and keeping their value down in June. However,with careful selection investors can use the current volatility to make money. You see, there are plenty of fundamentally strong yet undervalued companies that the mainstream investment community hasn't picked up.

Which stocks fit the bill? Take a look at three undervalued stock buys to see:

Right now, like many individual investors, I am thinking about the coming year on Wall Street. What moves should I make? What stocks should I look at? Specifically: How should I position my portfolio?

One company I am almost certain to get rid of is Activision Blizzard (ATVI). I reserve the right to change my mind on this, but data on the video game industry point to a deterioration in the fundamentals. Many headlines throughout the year have trumpeted the fact that the console cycle is aging, and that demand for high-end systems has been satiated.

"As a conservative long-term oriented investor I tend to keep individual position sizes to no more than 5% of the overall portfolio; however in the case of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), I'm building a more concentrated position that I expect to pay off in the next two to three years," says Asif Suria.

In his The SINLetter advisory, he offers 10 reasons why he believes the stock is an attractive core long-term investment. He explains, "My goal is to eventually build this position until it represents 20% of my personal portfolio. Here are 10 reasons behind this decision.

1) Activision released the highly anticipated game Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 and racked up $310 million in sales from the United States and United Kingdom over a 24 hour period. With Christmas right around the corner, the final sales numbers for this edition of Call of Duty are going to be much bigger.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) said its Q3 profit declined despite the popularity of Guitar Hero.
• Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) said Q3 revenue surged and its offered impressive cash flow numbers.
• Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) easily beat Q3 earnings estimates and raised its full-year guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) lower Q1 results topped estimates and sent shares higher.
• Cognizant Technology Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was upgraded following its strong Q3 results.
• Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) received an analyst's upgrade following the Q3 results.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) published third-quarter results on Thursday after the bell. I can't say I was wholly taken with them. I know the best is probably yet to come once the Christmas shopping season really gets under way, but I was a little disappointed that the company saw a decline in adjusted profit.

Excluding items, Activision Blizzard made 4 cents per share this quarter versus the 7 cents per share made in last year's similar period. Well, did I say I was a little disappointed? Make that a lot disappointed. After all, this is supposed to be the publisher with the best pipeline on the block, the one with the Guitar Hero franchise and a great portfolio of licensed intellectual properties.

Bright and early this morning, Goldman Sachs downgraded gaming guru Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) from Conviction Buy to Buy. In a note to clients, the brokerage firm explained that it sees greater relative potential for near-term price appreciation in other stocks. Goldman maintains a six-month price target of $16 on ATVI, implying expected upside of more than 29% from the shares' closing price on Wednesday.

ATVI is a ripe target for downgrades, if only because analysts are so lopsidedly optimistic toward the "Guitar Hero" parent. Zacks reports that the equity has attracted no fewer than 18 Strong Buy recommendations, plus two Buys -- with not a single Hold, Sell, or Strong Sell to be found.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) remains confident in its guidance for full-year earnings. According to StreetInsider.com, management is still looking for sales of $4.5 billion on the top line and adjusted earnings of 63 cents per share on the bottom line.

The publisher, which competes with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), should benefit from recent hardware price cuts made by Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT). With more units in the field, there most likely will be higher demand for Activision Blizzard's awesome pipeline, which includes Call of Duty.

According to GameSpot, execs at Viacom (NYSE: VIA) are pleased with the initial acceptance by consumers for its high-profile game The Beatles: Rock Band. The company said that expectations for the title, which is distributed by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), have been surpassed, and that a quarter of the inventory has already moved off retail shelves. Impressive.

Recently, I wrote an article about The Beatles game and how it might impact the Guitar Hero franchise from Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). I'm a shareholder of the latter, so I'm obviously biased on the subject. I want Rock Band's competitor to win the battle, no question.

I've been a faithful Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) shareholder for a while now. Sure, I've thought of booking my profits at times, but so far, I've held tight on my long-term position (note: I did do a quick trade with the stock earlier in the summer).

The Guitar Hero franchise is one of the reasons why I keep holding the stock. I figure a lot of units tied to the brand will be sold this holiday season. However, there is a looming threat. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) are set to release The Beatles: Rock Band. The street date is September 9, and analysts will be watching the early sales very carefully to see how the dynamic shapes up.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), a video-game publisher that competes with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), issued Q1 stats after the bell on Tuesday. Things are looking up for the company famous for its Madden brand of football software. Adjusted revenues increased over 30%, and the loss on the bottom line narrowed to 2 cents per share from a loss of 42 cents per share in the year-ago period.

The profit performance beat Wall Street's expectations, as Alex Salkever reports over at DailyFinance. You can check out his article to get the highlights of the quarter and a perspective on the current state of the video-game industry, which includes console makers Sony (NYSE: SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY).

I was looking around today for a stock to buy. I came up empty-handed. One of my ideas was Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). I was intrigued this week by reports that said the company wants to have the launch to end all launches for the next Call of Duty title. Quite frankly, I think there's a chance the company will succeed with this. So, naturally, my thoughts turned to shares of Activision Blizzard as a possible buy candidate. Although I already own the stock in a longer-term, taxed portfolio, I wanted a trade for my Roth IRA.

Well, I couldn't buy the company. It's up today (3% at the time of this writing), and I do not want to buy any stock when it's up. Not now, at any rate. The market has come too far too fast, in my opinion, and I want to trade carefully. But, while looking at Activision Blizzard, I came across this article from Ben Kuchera over at Ars Technica. He discusses comments made by the publisher's CEO, Bobby Kotick, on Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) and its PlayStation platforms.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) hasn't been doing as well as its colleague Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). Indeed, when it comes to the numbers, Activision, which is responsible for franchise hits Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, has its competitor beat.

But EA recently released an exercise system for the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii that was highlighted at CNBC.com. The piece mentions the enormous marketing presence that is supporting EA Sports Active. You get a couple accessories with the software: a leg strap that is used like a controller to interact with the screen, and a resistance band to increase the effectiveness of the workout. Oprah Winfrey's trainer apparently assisted EA with the design.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), a video-game publisher that competes with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), reported some cool first-quarter numbers on Thursday after the bell. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 8 cents per share. According to analysts, Activision Blizzard was only supposed to do around 5 cents per share.

Not only was the bottom line solid, but revenues on an adjusted basis also came in ahead of expectations. And you can thank the usual suspects for powering up the quarter. You've got Call of Duty. You've got Guitar Hero. You've got World of Warcraft. These best-of-breed franchises are selling a lot of copies on Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360, and Nintendo's (OTC: NTDOY) Wii.