New WWE India TV Rights Deals May Be Responsible For Recent Uptick In Stock
WWE stock has been on the rise again after dropping 26% in October, jumping 8.78% on Wednesday alone. According tp Barron's, a report from Guggenheim's Curry Baker about the upcoming Indian television rights deal could be responsible for the surge.
"We believe the setup into the India renewal is oddly reminiscent of how the stock was positioned heading into the U.S. renewal last year," Guggenheim's Curry Baker wrote on Wednesday. "India's competitive, growing media ecosystem appears poised to deliver a win for WWE and its shareholders."
As we previously reported, WWE Co-President George Barrios said this past summer that WWE plans to announce their new India TV deals during the first half of 2019, while a UK deal could be finalized by the end of the year.
According to Baker, he predicts that the value of the India deal will rise a compounded 38% through 2024. He added that the deal will increase from 10% of revenue in 2017 to nearly 17%. He upgraded his share price target from $100 to $105. WWE stock closed on Wednesday at $71.01.
2019 will also be the first year of WWE's new U.S. television agreements with FOX and NBC Universal, which saw a three-fold increase from their current deals.