Genius Sports Lifts 2021 Revenue Outlook by 35 Percent

In its second earnings report as a stand-alone public company, Genius Sports (NYSE:GENI) said Thursday sales in the January through March period jumped 52 percent to $53.7 million, easily beating analysts’ estimate of $44 million.

That’s impressive, but investors are likely focusing on the company boosting its full-year revenue guidance to $250 million to $260 million from $190 million. Genius also forecast 2021 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $10 million to $20 million. Thursday’s bullish update comes about four months after the sports betting data provider revealed what was considered at the time to be positive guidance for 2021.

Our strategy of powering the global sports data ecosystem has supported our growth in the quarter, and we’re confident in our ability to continuously improve our end-to-end solution and deliver on our increased guidance for the year,” said CEO Mark Locke in a statement.

Shares of Genius surged nearly 10 percent on the news, rising on volume that was more than double the daily average. That’s good for one of the stock’s best intraday performances since its merger with special purpose acquisition company dMY Technology Group, Inc. II, which paved the way for Genius to go public. That transaction closed a month ago.

Momentum Building for Genius

While the investment community has been enthralled with consumer-facing sports betting operators, Genius is proving there are gains to be had with data providers.

Enthusiasm for Genius stock is tied to a recent six-year data accord with the NFL that is worth an estimated $1 billion, as well as a two-year marketing partnership with FanDuel. Under the terms of the deal with the largest online sportsbook operator, Genius will provide data-based advertising services.

In the first three months of the year, Genius also announced partnerships with Major League Baseball (MLB), Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), Major League Rugby (MLR), and Japan B.LEAGUE, among others.

Finally, Upped Guidance Pays Off

Genius joins a now lengthy list of gaming companies that revealed upbeat 2021 outlooks in recent weeks. But prior to the data provider’s update, strong guidance wasn’t met with comparable strength in terms of share price performance. In fact, most gaming companies guiding higher on the top line saw their stocks slide following those reports.

Genius said its betting technology, content, and services business generated $39 million of revenue in the first quarter. That’s its biggest division, and the 42 percent increase is attributable to pricing power. This is a positive sign for investors and one that confirms sportsbook operators will pay up for premium data.