World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s WWE stock rose 1.2% in premarket trades after the media and entertainment company’s first-quarter results beat Wall Street’s top and bottom line estimates early Wednesday. The company reported net income of $36.7 million, or earnings of 43 cents a share, compared with net income of $66.1 million, or 77 cents a share, in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of 42 cents a share. WWE’s first-quarter revenue was $297.6 million, down from $333.4 million in the prior year’s quarter, but above the FactSet consensus of $291.5 million. The company also reaffirmed its 2023 outlook, which targets record revenue and adjusted OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) between $395 million and $410 million, which would be a record. “Our financial performance was primarily driven by the contractual escalation of media rights fees for our flagship weekly programming and strong consumer demand for our live events,” said WWE CFO Frank Riddick, in a statement. “Our results in the quarter were also impacted by a shift in the timing of the staging of a large-scale international event.”
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