Stocks Tracker: Full-year earnings fire share prices skywards

Entain 

3 February closing: 695p

28 February closing: 746p

Peak February closing: 764p

An unexpected turn of events in February saw Entain’s newly minted CEO Gavin Isaacs resign after five months with the FTSE 100 business on 11 February. The industry veteran had been championed as the potential remedy to Entain’s recent woes, but the Ladbrokes Coral parent now remains back on the hunt for a new boss. Chair Stella David has reassumed interim CEO duties while that search continues.

And while Isaacs’ exit hit Entain’s stock on the day, closing at 660p from a previous close of 742p, the remainder of February showed green shoots. In fact, by that week’s end, Entain’s stock was at 744p, above the level pre-Isaacs’ resignation.

Corvex Management also moved to take its shareholding in the business above the 5% threshold last month. Entain’s stock is up almost 8% in the past four weeks.

Betsson

3 February closing: SEK151

28 February closing: SEK162

Peak February closing: SEK169

Yet another strong quarterly earnings report from Stockholm-listed Betsson resulted in the Rizk parent company’s shares spiking 8% in February by the month’s end. The Q4 2024 report, published on 6 February, showed all-time highs in revenue and deposits across casino, sports and multiple geos for the business.

Full-year 2024 revenue jumped 17% to hit €1.1bn, while EBITDA rose 20% for the year to reach €316m. A trimming of the fat with some market exits in Africa and Europe were also confirmed in the report. Betsson shares leapt from SEK152 to SEK160 following the publication of the report, before peaking halfway through February.

Speaking to EGR, Betsson AB CEO Pontus Lindwall said: “I take it quarter by quarter. I dig where I stand, and I work a lot in real time. I usually compare it to like a large football team of great players and, when you have a good team of really good players, then you are hard to beat.”

Better Collective

3 February closing: SEK106

28 February closing: SEK110

Peak February closing: SEK118

Better Collective was able to navigate the potentially treacherous waters of its full-year 2024 report in February, with an unaudited trading update released on 6 February suggesting EBITDA would beat previously reduced guidance. The affiliate’s stock rose from SEK103 to SEK117 on the news, before the full earnings breakdown was announced on post-market close on 19 February.

Better Collective’s stock did dip on the full earnings, falling from SEK117.80 to SEK113.20. Management reported a Q4 revenue spike of 13% to €96.2m.

However, progress in Brazil will not be made until 2026, with bosses noting the market could have a €50m negative hit on operations this year following the regulated arena’s launch on 1 January. Brazil also accounted for 19% of Better Collective revenue in 2024, showing how lucrative the region is.

PointsBet

3 February closing: A$0.82

28 February closing: A$1.13

Peak February closing: A$1.13

PointsBet’s stock is up more than 37% over the past month after a A$353m acquisition offer from Japanese company MIXI shook up the sector Down Under. MIXI’s offer, which values PointsBet at A$1.06 per share, is a 27.7% premium on PointsBet’s closing price on 25 February.

The offer also represented a 23.9% premium on the operator’s one-month volume average share price. The PointsBet board have thrown their backing behind the offer, imploring shareholders to approve the bid at a meeting in May.

However, fellow Australian firm BlueBet has put an offer on the table valuing PointsBet between A$340m and A$360 in a cash-plus-scrip offer. PointsBet’s board has said the offer from BlueBet is “unfunded”.

PointsBet also claimed the BlueBet bid was “heavily dependent on assumed synergies” and the 25 business days requirement to complete due diligence was a “significant amount of time”.

BlueBet has claimed it has the backing of some major PointsBet shareholders who prefer the bid to that of MIXI’s.

Rush Street Interactive

3 February closing: $14.44

28 February closing: $11.66

Peak February closing: $16.70

Despite another strong earnings report from the BetRivers, PlaySugarHouse and RushBet parent company, Rush Street Interactive’s (RSI) shares were dealt a blow in New York in February. The Chicago-based firm’s stock is down by almost a fifth, at the time of writing, having peaked at $16.70 midway through the month.

The downturn comes after RSI’s earnings report was published post-market close on 26 February, in which the operator reported full-year 2024 revenue of $924.1m, up 33.7% against full-year 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA also skyrocketed by more than 1,000% to $92.5m. However, the market initiated a selling-off of the stock.

RSI’s shares had been on a significant upwards trend over the past 12 months.