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Can WrestleMania 33 Pull Up World Wrestling (WWE) Stock?
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With WrestleMania 33, the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s mega event of the year just around the corner, what do you think investors’ are anticipating from the stock? Will the stock witness a rebound if this grand event, to be held on Apr 2, 2017, turns out a success?
Yes, these questions are on investors’ mind. Notably, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company’s shares have underperformed the Zacks categorized Movie/TV Production/Distribution industry in the past six months. Though the company’s shares have increased 6.7%, it has lagged the Zacks categorized industry’s gain of 20.1%.
The Grand Show
The Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL, is all prepared for the event. Notably, this will be the second WrestleMania to be held at the venue. WrestleMania 33 will be a stand out event holding two world championships - Raw's Universal Championship and SmackDown's WWE Championship, making it the first event since WrestleMania 29 (held in 2013) to do the same. While Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will play for Universal Championship, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton will be vying for WWE Championship.
WrestleMania 33 – Can It Turn the Table?
The success of this event was earlier decided on the pay-per-views (PPV) for the show, as this was the most important source of revenue generation. The company has been broadcasting PPV since the 1980s with WrestleMania considered as the longest-running PPV event.
WrestleMania 28 ranks first in terms of PPV viewership, with 1,217,000 PPV viewers. WrestleMania 23 and 21 holds the second and third place with PPV viewer count of 1,200,000 and 1,085,000, respectively.
However, with the launch of WWE Network there has been a sharp decline in PPV revenues, which is a major concern for the WWE. The launch of WWE Network had altered the distribution of WWE’s PPV programs and lowered the monetization of assets through other platforms like pay-per-view as well as content distributed on digital platforms. However, the company still continued to distribute programming through PPV channels. Not to mention, some of the earlier PPV distributors do not carry such programming anymore.
In 2016, the company generated PPV revenues of $12.6 million in comparison with $20.6 million, $45.2 million, $82.5 million and $83.6 million in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. These represent 2%, 3%, 8%, 16% and 17% of total net revenue in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.
Coming back to WrestleMania 33, the tickets for the event went on sales on Nov 18, 2016, at individual ticket price ranging from $38 to $2,130. This definitely means the company is poised for solid revenues from the ticket sale if it manages to attract huge audiences for the show. However, the success of the event cannot be solely gauged from these factors.
Bottom Line
Mega event like WrestleMania is considered as the Super Bowl of Sports Entertainment. Looking back, we note that World Wrestling has not gained as much as anticipated from the event.
Despite the hype, the stock has witnessed declines of 4.3%, 14.7% and 14.7% post the WrestleMania 32, 31 and 30, respectively. Based on the past three year performance post WrestleMania, we don’t expect WrestleMania 33 to turn the tables for WWE.
Stocks to Consider
Better-ranked stocks worth considering include Cable ONE, Inc. (CABO - Free Report) , Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. and Salem Media Group, Inc. (SALM - Free Report) . Cable ONE sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Central European Media Enterprises and Salem Media Group carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 30 days, Cable ONE’s has witnessed one upward estimate revision.
Shares of Central European Media Enterprises have gained more than 29% in the past six months.
Salem Media Group has delivered positive earnings in the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 53.8%.
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In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?
Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access.Click here for Zacks' private trades >>
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Can WrestleMania 33 Pull Up World Wrestling (WWE) Stock?
With WrestleMania 33, the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s mega event of the year just around the corner, what do you think investors’ are anticipating from the stock? Will the stock witness a rebound if this grand event, to be held on Apr 2, 2017, turns out a success?
Yes, these questions are on investors’ mind. Notably, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company’s shares have underperformed the Zacks categorized Movie/TV Production/Distribution industry in the past six months. Though the company’s shares have increased 6.7%, it has lagged the Zacks categorized industry’s gain of 20.1%.
The Grand Show
The Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL, is all prepared for the event. Notably, this will be the second WrestleMania to be held at the venue. WrestleMania 33 will be a stand out event holding two world championships - Raw's Universal Championship and SmackDown's WWE Championship, making it the first event since WrestleMania 29 (held in 2013) to do the same. While Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will play for Universal Championship, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton will be vying for WWE Championship.
WrestleMania 33 – Can It Turn the Table?
The success of this event was earlier decided on the pay-per-views (PPV) for the show, as this was the most important source of revenue generation. The company has been broadcasting PPV since the 1980s with WrestleMania considered as the longest-running PPV event.
WrestleMania 28 ranks first in terms of PPV viewership, with 1,217,000 PPV viewers. WrestleMania 23 and 21 holds the second and third place with PPV viewer count of 1,200,000 and 1,085,000, respectively.
However, with the launch of WWE Network there has been a sharp decline in PPV revenues, which is a major concern for the WWE. The launch of WWE Network had altered the distribution of WWE’s PPV programs and lowered the monetization of assets through other platforms like pay-per-view as well as content distributed on digital platforms. However, the company still continued to distribute programming through PPV channels. Not to mention, some of the earlier PPV distributors do not carry such programming anymore.
In 2016, the company generated PPV revenues of $12.6 million in comparison with $20.6 million, $45.2 million, $82.5 million and $83.6 million in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. These represent 2%, 3%, 8%, 16% and 17% of total net revenue in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.
Coming back to WrestleMania 33, the tickets for the event went on sales on Nov 18, 2016, at individual ticket price ranging from $38 to $2,130. This definitely means the company is poised for solid revenues from the ticket sale if it manages to attract huge audiences for the show. However, the success of the event cannot be solely gauged from these factors.
Bottom Line
Mega event like WrestleMania is considered as the Super Bowl of Sports Entertainment. Looking back, we note that World Wrestling has not gained as much as anticipated from the event.
Despite the hype, the stock has witnessed declines of 4.3%, 14.7% and 14.7% post the WrestleMania 32, 31 and 30, respectively. Based on the past three year performance post WrestleMania, we don’t expect WrestleMania 33 to turn the tables for WWE.
Stocks to Consider
Better-ranked stocks worth considering include Cable ONE, Inc. (CABO - Free Report) , Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. and Salem Media Group, Inc. (SALM - Free Report) . Cable ONE sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Central European Media Enterprises and Salem Media Group carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 30 days, Cable ONE’s has witnessed one upward estimate revision.
Shares of Central European Media Enterprises have gained more than 29% in the past six months.
Salem Media Group has delivered positive earnings in the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 53.8%.
Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas
In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?
Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access.Click here for Zacks' private trades >>