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TKO Group Holdings (TKO) shares soared 6.3% in the last trading session to close at $151.97. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 1.3% loss over the past four weeks.
The upswing in share-price came after Tko Group CEO Emanuel Ariel bought $50.3 million in stock under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which was adopted on December 17, 2024, and will expire by March 31, 2025. Following these transactions, Ariel's indirect ownership in TKO Group Holdings increased to 1,031,804 shares. These acquisitions reflect Ariel's continued confidence in the company's prospects, aligning with his role as a key executive at TKO Group. A major shareholder Patrick Whitesell also purchased 125,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $143.06 per share, with a total value of $17,966,762.34. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 807,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $115,503,210.56. This trade represents a 18.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock.
This producer of professional wrestling events and television shows is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.22 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +344.4%. Revenues are expected to be $612.6 million, down 0.2% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For TKO Group, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on TKO going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
TKO Group is part of the Zacks Film and Television Production and Distribution industry. Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF.A), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 3.4% higher at $7.81. LGF.A has returned -3.8% in the past month.
For Lions Gate , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.07. This represents a change of -74.1% from what the company reported a year ago. Lions Gate currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).