Growth stocks are taking a beating these days, but one stock that's bucking the trend is World Wrestling Entertainment. The stock is among the IBD 50 Stocks To Watch and is near a buying opportunity.
WWE is climbing the rear wall of a cup toward a buy point of 62.39. The cup has a depth of 25%, and the shares are currently trading well above the 10-week line. WWE completed a cup-with-handle formation last October before retreating into a new cup base.
WWE ranks No. 1 within the IBD Media-Diversified Group, according to Stock Checkup. And it checks all six of the green circles including a Composite Rating of 95, an EPS Rating of 91 and a Relative Strength Rating of 89.
The IBD 50 highlights today's best growth stocks. And on this page, you'll find timely analysis of selected IBD 50 stocks that are near a buy point or trading in a new buy zone. You'll also find stocks revealing important lessons on buying, selling or on how to read stock charts.
'Raw' And 'SmackDown' Bring In Spectators, Viewers
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WWE stock shot up on Feb. 4 after the company reported earnings that were in line with analysts' forecasts and a record over $1 billion in revenue for 2021. The bottom line soared 192% to 70 cents a share. After-tax margin hit 18.9%, according to MarketSmith.
WWE also gave a bullish forecast for 2022.
World Wrestling focuses on professional wrestling, and analysts expect it will do well this year as live events return after a two-year absence due to Covid. Its flagship programs like "Raw" and "SmackDown" continue to generate licensing fees from distributors, including Peacock, the streaming service from Disney, Sony, Prime Video from Amazon and Activision Blizzard.
"More people are watching WWE Premium Live Events than ever before," said Nick Khan, president and chief revenue officer, in a call with analysts. "Our deal with Peacock also marked a strategic pivot for our company to fully focus on our wholly owned intellectual property and completely unique content. In terms of subscriptions, over 3.5 million fully paid Peacock subscribers have watched WWE content since we moved our product over last March."
WWE Excels Among Growth Stocks
This quarter, FactSet analysts expect WWE to earn 65 cents per share, which would mark a 27% boost vs. last year's first quarter of 51 cents a share. Analysts expect sales this year to top $1.25 billion, up 14% compared to 2021's $1.1 billion.
The IBD 50 is an objective, computer-generated list, based solely on time-tested, fact-based criteria. And it works. Based on a study of every top-performing stock over the last 130-plus years, IBD has identified the seven traits of winning stocks. The IBD 50 simply highlights today's growth stocks that are most strongly showing those same characteristics.
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Follow Michael Molinski on Twitter @IMmolinski
