It’s been a great year for the stock of the largest wrestling promotion company in the world. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE, Financial) saw a 16% jump in recent months of market volatility and has been a champion performer over the last 12 months of trading.
World Wrestling Entertainment has seen its stock go as high as 69% compared to a year ago. Its 52-week high stands at over $39 a share.
It would seem that WestleMania 34, known as the Super Bowl of Wrestling, which took place on Sunday in New Orleans, would further heat up the stock. But that didn't happen, at least not in the short term. In Monday trading, World Wrestling Entertainment was down after falling over 2% in mid-afternoon trading. By late afternoon, it stood at $37.06 a share, down 1.23%.
The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 0.33% to 2,613.16 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.19% to 23,979 shortly before market close.
The Connecticut-based integrated media and entertainment company holds more than 500 events, televised and non-televised, a year and reaches more than 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries.
If you missed Sunday’s WrestleMania, you can still tune in tonight for "Monday Night Raw." Tomorrow, the show is called "Tuesday Night Smackdown." Analysts had predicted that over 2 million people were to watch Sunday’s spectacle. The WWE Network offered a free trial so fans could tune in. The network charges subscribers $9.99 a month.
Financial figures
Although some investors sold the stock in Monday trading, the company has shown 4.10% growth in revenue per share over 10 years. It reported $800 million in revenues in 2017, an increase from $729 million in the prior year. Its long-term debt is $200 million, compared to $184 million in the prior year. It had free cash flow of $71.9 million in 2017.
Net income was $32 million in 2017.
The company is generous with its dividends, at least in years past. It provided a dividend yield of 1.57% to investors in 2017, compared to 2.61% in 2016. Its dividend yield was up to 13% in 2008 and at about half of that in 2011 and in 2012.
World Wrestling Entertainment has a price-earnings ratio of 90.36 versus an industry median of 20.
It has a forward price-earnings ratio of 52.91 compared to an industry median of 17.06. It has a price-book ratio of 11.35 versus an industry median of 1.85 and a price-sales ratio of 3.63 versus an industry median of 3.63.
GuruFocus ranks it a 6 out of 10 in financial strength and 7 of 10 in profitability and growth.
In earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the company reported $1.50 per share compared to $1.14 per share in the prior year.
It saw declines in key indicators, including net and operating margins in 2014, but has reported growth over the last two years.
Guru investors
The company drew more gurus to its stock in the final months of the year. New buys in the fourth quarter included purchases from gurus Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio). Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Leucadia National (Trades, Portfolio) added to their positions. Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) reduced his exposure by 3.6%.
According to the website Wrestling Inc., episodes range from 2.7 million views to as high as over 4.5 million. In 2017, there were 156.971 million viewers. The average was about 3 million per episode.
The comapny has a market cap of almost $3 billion.
