A note from a Citigroup analyst predicts that a coming round of consolidation in the software sector could result in Calabasas-based game developer THQ Inc. getting swallowed.

The company’s stock reacted to the analysis by losing 90 cents, or 11 percent of its value, to trade at $7.47 at mid-morning Tuesday.

“As the U.S. economy slowly climbs out of the recession and equity markets continue their rebound, we expect software merger and acquisition activity to pick up during the remainder of 2009,” said Citigroup’s Brent Thill in the note.

Other companies cited as potential takeover targets were Red Hat, Salesforce.com and Take-Two Interactive.

In the last year, THQ Inc. stock has traded in wide range, fueled by talk of takeovers. Shares reached a high of $21.98 last June and plummeted to a low of $2.23 in March before recovering in recent months.