WBD Stock Rallies as Warner Bros Discovery Promises ’Highest Standards of Tennis in Living Memory’ at Wimbledon
Warner Bros Discovery's stock (NASDAQ:WBD) gets a boost—because nothing screams 'bullish' like elite tennis and corporate optimism.
Wimbledon's golden ticket: The media giant bets big on delivering 'the highest standards of tennis in living memory,' because apparently, we’ve all forgotten the 90s.
Wall Street’s play: Investors serve up fresh capital, proving once again that nostalgia and hype still move markets faster than fundamentals.
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As it turns out, Warner’s battle plan for Wimbledon presentations will call on both streaming and linear to fill out the profile. Throughout large portions of Europe, Max and HBO Max will be the main means to catch tennis action, though in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Eurosport will hand over to TNT Sports with what’s called a “daily highlights programme.” Meanwhile, discovery+ will handle streaming duties therein as well, and Eurosport will offer both coverage and local commentary. The BBC, of course, remains holder of the live rights, so look for plenty of coverage therein as well.
This is expected to be a big year for tennis, as detailed by executive vice president of WBD Sports Europe, Scott Young. Young noted: “So far this season, we have witnessed some of the highest standards of tennis in living memory, underscored by two epic Roland-Garros Singles finals featuring the world’s best players. We can’t wait to turn our attention to the Grass court season by telling the stories of world’s oldest tennis tournament and its current crop of elite players for millions of fans through our exhaustive and locally relevant coverage of every match in our available markets.”
Troubles in India
Remember back in April, when we found out that Warner was looking for “homegrown heroes” to show off in India to build up its streaming loadout? It had several in mind, including Chhota Bheem, Jay Jagannath and Little Singham ready to go. Such plans are likely to give its over-the-top (OTT) strategy a boost, but it remains a potentially problematic field.
Warner’s plans to break off its streaming and linear operations are likely to prove helpful, by allowing it greater focus on the streaming. That is something it sorely needs in India, but there is one major problem: negotiations. With Warner having both streaming and linear offerings, it had more negotiating leverage with internet service providers in the region. Without the linear offerings, its value slips, at least somewhat. This is a clear call for Warner to roll out more “…daring content experiments,” including, “…edgier themes,”noted streaming industry expert Girish Dwibhashyam.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on 10 Buys and eight Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 47.89% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $12.31 per share implies 10.5% upside potential.
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