USA Men's Basketball Team Heavily Favored In 2024 Summer Olympics: Can LeBron James, Steph Curry And Team Live Up To Dream Team Comparisons?

Millions of eyes will be glued to televisions over the next two weeks, with the 2024 Summer Olympics kicking off in Paris on July 26.

Here's a look at six companies that could experience a boost in interest and their financials from the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Comcast Corporation : The media company has the rights to the Summer Olympics and will focus heavily on its Peacock streaming platform during the two weeks. All events will be streamed on Peacock with NBC also having network coverage in primetime.

The Summer Olympics includes top events across swimming, track and field, gymnastics, men's basketball and more that American viewers love watching. Given the time difference between the U.S. and host country France, sports fans and Olympics viewers may shell out the extra money to subscribe to Peacock to get real-time coverage instead of taking the risk of having event results spoiled ahead of Primetime replays.

"This is going to be a defining moment for Peacock," Peacock President Kelly Campbell said.

Read Also: Do Summer Olympics (And Gold Medals) Matter To The Stock Market? The Results May Surprise You

Airbnb Inc : The travel company could benefit from the Olympics, where it is housing hundreds of thousands of people during the two-week event. In June, the company shared that its Paris region listings had increased by 40% and nights booked in the region during the Olympic Games were up 400% year-over-year.

Airbnb shared at the time that over 50% of its guests booking trips during the Olympics were families or groups of three or more people, which could highlight the value of booking a home or apartment through the company.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky highlighted the importance of the company's Icons program on display at the Summer Olympics. The CEO said the Icons program is about branding and highlights that Airbnb is not just a place to stay, "it's about experiences."

"This is the biggest event in Airbnb history," Chesky said.

Chesky reminded CNBC that Airbnb "was designed for events" when the company was founded. The estimated overall economic impact of the guests coming to the Summer Olympics through Airbnb is around $1 billion, Chesky added.

Anheuser-Busch InBev : The beer company, still trying to get over a boycott of its Bud Light brand, could see an Olympics sponsorship boost several of its brands. The company's Michelob Ultra brand is the official sponsor for Team USA at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024, 2026 and 2028. AB InBev is also a Worldwide Olympic Partner through 2028.

"Beer and sports are better together. This partnership illustrates the opportunity for the beer category to positively impact and engage with billions of fans around the world, ushering in a new era of Olympic spirt as we cheer for our favorite national teams as they go for gold," AB InBev CEO Michael Doukeris said.

Michelob Ultra is among the fastest growing beer brands in recent years and has partnered with the NBA, WNBA, PGA, U.S. Soccer, Copa America and other sporting events.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is also promoting its non-alcoholic Corona Cero during the Olympics. The beer is listed as a global beer sponsor of the Olympic Games.  

The beer company will focus heavily on two of the fastest growing categories in the sector, non-alcoholic and low-calorie, a move that could pay off in future market share and financials.

Genius Sports : As the provider of sports betting data and results to media partners and sportsbooks, Genius Sports could be busy during the Summer Olympics. The company also has a potential catalyst that could bring its data to millions of people around the world. Social media platform X recently launched Trend Genius with Genius Sports. The new product will leverage "real-time conversations to accelerate ad attention in moments that matter."

The platform was launched ahead of the Summer Olympics and the games could serve as a test to the popularity and usage of the data from Genius Sports. The platform will allow advertisers to target topics that have risen in popularity during sporting events.

X owner Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have already begun posting about how prevalent coverage of the Olympics will be on the social media platform over the next two weeks. Expect the Olympics to gain plenty of attention on X, with Genius Sports potentially kicking off the new product with a huge early result.

DraftKings Inc and Flutter Entertainment : The sports betting companies have the two biggest platforms by market share in the United States. Betting on Olympic events has increased in recent years, with more events being offered across more states than in the previous Summer Olympics.

Top sports like soccer, men's basketball are drawing increased attention from bettors during the games. A total of 38 states plus Washington D.C. offer legal sports betting in the U.S. compared to 22 states back during the 2020 Summer Olympics, the Washington Post reported.

The time difference between Paris and New York is six hours, whereas the difference between Tokyo and New York is 13 hours. The smaller time difference with Paris could potentially increase betting activity in the U.S.

The United States is the favorite to win the most medals and gold medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, with numerous stars participating in events. This will likely attract bettors eager to profit from their bets while supporting their country’s athletes.

Read Next:

• Scottie Scheffler, Gold Medalist? Golfer Looks To Turn 2024 PGA Tour Success Into A 2024 Olympic Medal

Photo: Hethers/Shutterstock.com

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Every four years, a Summer Olympics competition is held with viewers around the world tuning in to cheer on their country's athletes in the hope to top the medal count and celebrate the pride of their country.

While the Olympics are important to media companies, sports fans and others, here's a look at their impact on the stock market.

Stock Markets During Summer Olympics: The stock market doesn't close for the Summer Olympics, but could see volatility for several companies that could be impacted by the games including U.S. media rights holder Comcast Corp .

Other than stocks with direct ties to the Olympic games, the stock market sees little correlation between the games and price action. The country that wins the most countries often doesn't see a material impact from taking the top honors.

One market that is more heavily impacted is the stock market of the host country, which often sees a spike when the country is selected as the host and shortly before the games before cooling off during the games and directly after.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust , which tracks the S&P 500 Index was up 1.0% and 1.1%, respectively, during the duration of the 2016 Summer Olympics (Aug. 5, 2016-Aug. 21, 2016) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2020 Summer Olympics (July 23, 2021-Aug. 8, 2021) in Tokyo. Japan.

While the past two Summer Olympics produced minimal returns for the S&P 500, the SPY was up 2.9% and 2.4% respectively during the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

For comparison, a look at the country-specific ETFs of the Olympics host nation turned in lower returns than the S&P 500.

In 2020, the iShares MSCI Japan Fund was flat during the Summer Olympics, going from $67.78 to $67.82, or a total gain of 4 cents.

The iShares MSCI Brazil ETF was up 1.0% during the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The 2008 Summer Olympics may stand out as an example of volatility with the games. While the U.S. won the most medals overall (112 to China's 100), China took home the most gold medals (48 to USA's 36). This is the last time the U.S. didn't finish first in the gold medal race.

The iShares China Large-Cap ETF was actually down 2.1% during the 2008 Summer Olympics, compared to the 2.4% gain for the SPY mentioned above.

A Bespoke Investment study shared by Business Insider in 2016 found that the S&P 500 averaged a +1.75% gain during the duration of each Summer Olympics from 1928 to 2012. The study also found that the benchmark indices of host countries had a similar gain of +1.74% during each Summer Olympics.

One result also stands out in the study with the S&P 500 up 9.41% during the 1984 Summer Olympics, hosted in Los Angeles, California.

The Summer Olympics return to Los Angeles in 2028, the first time the U.S. has hosted since the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read Also: Scottie Scheffler, Gold Medalist? Golfer Looks To Turn 2024 PGA Tour Success Into A 2024 Olympic Medal

U.S. Medal Dominance: The U.S. has dominated the medal counts in the Summer Olympics, ranking with more than 1,000 medals ahead of the next closest country.

The U.S. has 2,975 total Olympic medals according to the Olympic Foundation and a CBS News report. Ranking behind the U.S. are the Soviet Union with 1,204 medals and Germany with 1,058 medals.

For gold medals, the U.S. ranks first with 1,179, followed by the Soviet Union with 473 and Germany with 342.

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, the U.S. had 121 total medals, ranking ahead of China (70) and Great Britain (67). The U.S. had 46 gold medals in 2016 topping Great Britain (27) and China (26).

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, the U.S. had 113 total medals, topping China (89) and the Russian Olympic Committee (71). USA led the way with 39 gold medals in 2020 topping China (38) and Japan (27).

The U.S. is once again favored to win the most medals and gold medals. Odds from DraftKings Inc give U.S. odds of -2500 to win the most medals, followed by China at +900 and Japan and Great Britain tied with odds of +5,000.

The odds for most gold medals are slightly closer with U.S. favored at -750, ranking ahead of China (+350) and France (+6,500).

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are July 26 through August 11.

Read Next:

• Going For The Gold And $50K Cash: 2024 Summer Olympic Winners In One Sport Will Be Financially Rewarded

Photo: Qubix Studio via Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

The most recent trading session ended with DraftKings standing at $35.78, reflecting a -0.22% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.51%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.2%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.93%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the company had lost 4.8% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 3.37% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.26% in that time.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of DraftKings in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on August 1, 2024. On that day, DraftKings is projected to report earnings of -$0.03 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 82.35%. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $1.11 billion, reflecting a 27.39% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of -$0.29 per share and a revenue of $5.02 billion, demonstrating changes of +83.24% and +36.85%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for DraftKings. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 31.05% lower within the past month. DraftKings presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

The Gaming industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, placing it within the top 42% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Zacks Investment Research

DraftKings is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended June 2024. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price.

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on August 1, 2024, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.03 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +82.4%.

Revenues are expected to be $1.11 billion, up 27.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 3.32% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for DraftKings?

For DraftKings, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -38.10%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that DraftKings will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that DraftKings would post a loss of $0.28 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.30, delivering a surprise of -7.14%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

DraftKings doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

An Industry Player's Expected Results

Another stock from the Zacks Gaming industry, Electronic Arts , is soon expected to post earnings of $0.42 per share for the quarter ended June 2024. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of -63.2%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $1.21 billion, down 23% from the year-ago quarter.

Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for Electronic Arts has been revised 5.5% up to the current level. Nevertheless, the company now has an Earnings ESP of 1.90%, reflecting a higher Most Accurate Estimate.

When combined with a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold), this Earnings ESP indicates that Electronic Arts will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Zacks Investment Research