Sportradar Slips After Issuing Initial Q1 Guidance

Posted on: April 22, 2025, 05:48h. 

Last updated on: April 23, 2025, 10:02h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.
  • Stock gives back some of Tuesday rally
  • Company forecasts Q1 revenue of €307 million to €311 million

Shares of Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) tumbled in Tuesday’s after-hours session, giving back some of the gains notched during normal trading hours after the company released preliminary first-quarter guidance.

Sportradar
The Sportradar logo. The stock slid late Tuesday, but positive catalysts remain in place. (Image: X)

The stock was lower by 4.75% at this writing after the Swiss sports betting data provider said it expects to report revenue of €307 million to €311 million on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of €56 million to €58 million for the March quarter. Sportradar also forecast a profit of €20 million to €24 million for that period.

The company cautioned its “independent registered accounting firm has not reviewed or audited the preliminary financial information” while adding it will deliver official first-quarter results on Monday, May 12.

Sportradar delivered the aforementioned outlook three weeks after it told investors it expects revenue and EBITDA will grow at compound annual growth rates of 15% and 27%, respectively, through 2027 — projections that contributed significantly to the stock jumping 12.19% over the past month.

Sportradar Pullback May Not Be Concerning

Sportradar’s after-hours retreat may be a simple case of profit-taking in a stock that’s up 23.11% over the past 90 days. Year to date, Sportradar and rival Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) are two of the best-performing gaming equities, confirming resilience to the macroeconomic headwinds that are plaguing the consumer-facing side of the industry.

Wall Street is coming around, too. Earlier on Tuesday, Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley double-upgraded Sportradar to “buy” from “underperform,” highlighting factors such as increasing cost clarity and potential benefits from the recently announced IMG Arena acquisition.

Our primary concern had been the pressure of sports rights costs on margins and cash flow, but SRAD should see increasing margins in the next several years following multiple rights renewals in ‘23-24. This coupled with consistently strong revenues and cost discipline should allow the recent rerating in shares to be sustainable,” noted Kelley.

The analyst also pointed out that sports rights costs — one of the largest expenditures for companies like Genius and Sportradar — are stabilizing and are unlikely to revisit the highs of previous years. He has a $28 price target on Sportradar, implying upside of 12% from Tuesday’s close.

Share Sale News May Be Weighing on Sportradar Stock

The after-hours decline experienced by Sportradar stock may be attributable to news that “an affiliate of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, an affiliate of Technology Crossover Ventures, and Carsten Koerl, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer” are selling 23 million shares  — transactions that will not generate direct proceeds for the company.

Underwriters of that plan have a 30-day window in which they can acquire an additional 3.45 million shares. Some of the supply that is being sold will be absorbed by Sportradar as it has authorized underwriters to purchase up to three million shares under a previously announced buyback program.

“The Share Repurchase is part of the Company’s existing $200 million share repurchase program and the Company intends to fund the Share Repurchase with cash on hand. The underwriters will not receive any underwriting fees for the shares being repurchased by the Company,” according to a statement.