Benchmark Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI) Stock

Key Points

• Benchmark analysts have raised their target price for Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI) from $12.00 to $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.19%.
• Genius Sports reported a 24.4% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $118.72 million, but missed earnings per share estimates with a reported loss of ($0.21).
• The company has initiated a $100 million share buyback plan, suggesting that management perceives the stock as undervalued.

Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by analysts at Benchmark from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Benchmark's price target would suggest a potential upside of 13.19% from the stock's previous close.

GENI has been the subject of a number of other reports. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Genius Sports from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Genius Sports from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Northland Securities started coverage on Genius Sports in a research note on Friday, July 25th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Arete Research upgraded Genius Sports to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $13.00 price objective on Genius Sports and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Genius Sports presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.69.

Genius Sports Stock Performance

Genius Sports stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.37. The company had a trading volume of 3,039,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,253,102. Genius Sports has a 1-year low of $6.37 and a 1-year high of $12.75. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $10.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of -39.86 and a beta of 1.86.

Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $118.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $118.28 million. Genius Sports had a negative return on equity of 11.48% and a negative net margin of 13.94%. The firm's revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Genius Sports will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Genius Sports announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Genius Sports

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GENI. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Genius Sports by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 15,288 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Genius Sports in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,106,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Genius Sports by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 11,641 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey acquired a new position in Genius Sports during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $522,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Genius Sports during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,312,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.91% of the company's stock.

About Genius Sports

Genius Sports Limited engages in the development and sale of technology-led products and services to the sports, sports betting, and sports media industries. It offers technology infrastructure for the collection, integration, and distribution of live data of sports leagues; streaming solutions comprising technology, automatic production, and distribution for sports to commercialize video footage of their games; and end-to-end integrity services to sports leagues, such as full-time active monitoring technology, which uses mathematical algorithms to identify and flag suspicious betting activity in global betting markets, as well as a full suite of online and offline educational and consultancy services.