StubHub Stock Jumps As Wall Street Analysts Offer Bullish Views Following Rough Debut

StubHub (STUB) The stock jumped on Monday after Wall Street analysts initiated coverage of the company with a positive outlook. Shares of the online ticketing platform have traded mostly lower since StubHub’s IPO last month.

At least 12 analysts have begun covering StubHub shares since late Sunday, with 11 reporting equivalent buy calls, according to various media reports. One analyst has a Neutral rating. The remarks follow the end of the traditional lull in analyst coverage following StubHub’s IPO last month.

StubHub stock is up nearly 5% at 19.82 in recent trading on the stock market today.

It’s been a rough ride for StubHub stock since the New York-based ticketing platform completed its initial public offering on September 17. Shares closed the first day 6% below StubHub’s IPO price of 23.50. StubHub shares have mostly tumbled since then, closing trading last week down 20% from their IPO price.

But analysts on Monday offered far more optimistic views than his early performance suggests. BofA analyst Justin Post gave StubHub a Buy rating with a price target of 25.

“StubHub was founded in 2000 and has grown to become the largest secondary ticket marketplace in North America with a share of nearly 50%,” Post wrote. “We expect healthy growth in the resale market, stock gains, emerging direct release business, and advertising initiatives to drive revenue growth well above other online marketplaces.”

StubHub Stock: What Analysts Are Saying

Meanwhile, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney initiated coverage on StubHub shares with an Outperform or Buy rating. The target price was set at 29.

“As the dominant player in the online (secondary ticketing) business, STUB produces strong financials (29% revenue growth in 2024) and benefits from scalable, asset-light economics with high margins (81% gross margins in 2024), very strong cash conversion, and strong network effects,” Mahaney wrote in a client note on Monday.

Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt rates StubHub stock as outperform with a price target of 25.

“We see a multi-year trajectory of strong growth ahead of our peers, supported primarily by a turnaround in direct issuance sector growth in the coming periods,” Devitt wrote.

Discussion about paying StubHub’s live release

A big debate among investors surrounding StubHub stock is the company’s ability to grow its business through direct ticketing, as it more aggressively takes on giants like its parent company TicketMaster. Long live the nation (fiber). Last month, StubHub announced a deal that will allow Major League Baseball teams to sell tickets directly through StubHub.

Devitt estimated that live release and unsold tickets represent a total addressable market of $127 billion, compared to the $30 billion market for used ticket sales.

“Over the next 12 to 24 months, investors will focus on execution as the company aims to significantly expand this segment, attracting more inventory allocation from existing partners and additional content rights holders,” Devitt wrote.

The Wedbush analyst added that there is “execution risk” when the company deals with this sector.

What to know about StubHub stock

StubHub was co-founded by its current CEO, Eric Becker, in 2000. It was acquired by StubHub. eBay (EBAY) for $310 million in 2007. EBay sold StubHub in 2020 for nearly $4 billion to European ticket marketplace Viagogo, another company founded by Baker. The combined company became StubHub Holdings, led by Baker.

In its IPO filing, StubHub said its revenues rose 29.5% in 2024 to $1.77 billion. Sales grew 10% in the first quarter ended March to $397.6 million. The company reported a net loss of $22.2 million in the first quarter of this year, on top of a net loss of $2.8 million for all of 2024.

Stocks from recent IPOs can be particularly volatile. Newer stocks with strong characteristics can be found in the IBD IPO Leaders screen.

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