Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI) Downgraded to "Sell" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Genius Sports' rating was downgraded from "hold" to "sell" by Wall Street Zen, highlighting concerns from equities researchers regarding the company's stock performance.
• Despite the downgrade, several other firms have issued "buy" ratings and increased target prices for Genius Sports, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.69.
• Genius Sports reported a loss of $0.21 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, though it saw a 24.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on GENI. Arete Research upgraded shares of Genius Sports to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Genius Sports from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Genius Sports from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Genius Sports from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Genius Sports in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Genius Sports has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.69.

Genius Sports Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of GENI traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $12.37. 5,839,662 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,220,100. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.97. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.90 and a beta of 1.86. Genius Sports has a 1 year low of $6.37 and a 1 year high of $12.45.

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

Genius Sports declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genius Sports

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Genius Sports during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Genius Sports by 61.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,754 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,430 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Genius Sports by 275.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,980 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 2,920 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new position in Genius Sports in the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Genius Sports in the second quarter worth about $75,000. 81.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.