World Wrestling Entertainment's stock surges after profit beat expectations, but sales missed
Shares of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. rallied 4.5% in premarket trading Thursday, after the media and live entertainment company reported a second-quarter profit that beat expectations but revenue that missed, as live event attendance and TV ratings declined. Net income rose to $10.4 million, or 11 cents a share, from $10.0 million, or 11 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet EPS consensus was 1 cent. Revenue fell 4.5% to $268.9 million, below the FactSet consensus of $272.2 million. Media revenue fell 3% to $197.0 million to miss expectations of $199.0 million and live events revenue declined 7% to $48.8 million to miss expectations of $51.6 million. Domestic TV ratings for "Raw" fell 14% and declined 11% for "SmackDown," while live event attendance averaged a 2% decline in North America. Digital consumption hours increased 22% and view rose 17%. Meanwhile, the company reiterated its 2019 revenue target of about $1 billion, which assumes improvement in engagement metrics, a second large scale even in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the completion of a media rights deal in the MENA region. The stock has tumbled 19.5% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 3.2%.
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