Concert organizer stocks lead Billboard Global Music Index – Billboard

It was a good week for music stocks in general and an even better week for concert promoters, who posted the biggest gains on the Billboard Global Music Index ahead of the blockbuster summer tour season.

The index rose 4.4% this week to 1,256.06, with 15 of the 21 stocks finishing in positive territory. It was led by concert promoter Madison Square Garden Entertainments (MSGE) 19.4% gain amid multiple news items impacting the stock price. On Wednesday (May 17) Guggenheim started reporting on MSGE with a buy recommendation, while a report claimed that MSG Entertainment may sell the theater at Madison Square Garden for about $1 billion. On Thursday, the company announced its first-quarter results that showed a 4% increase in revenue to $201 million, though the company’s executives declined to comment on the report on Thursday’s earnings call.

Shares of German promoter CTS Eventim also made big gains, rising 9.2% to EUR 64.30 ($68.61). On Thursday, the companies profit for the first quarter showed a 163% increase in sales to 366.2 million euros ($396 million), surpassing the pre-pandemic level of the first quarter of 2019 by 29.5%. Year-to-date, CTS Eventim has sold 18 million tickets online, a 58% increase over the same period last year. Meanwhile, Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, improved 8.4% to $84.73 and is now up 21.5% year-to-date. Sphere Entertainment Co., that turned off MSG Entertainment improved 6.1% to $23.61 in April.

The S&P 500 improved 1.6% to 4,191.98 and the Nasdaq index rose 3% to 12,657.90. The UK FTSE 100 index was unchanged at 7,756.87, while the South Korean composite KOSPI index rose 2.5% to 2,537.79.

K-pop companies continue their hot streak this week. Two companies not included in the Billboard Global Music Index, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, gained 22.7% and 17.8%, respectively. Year-to-date, shares of JYP Entertainment, home of Stray Kids and Twice, are up 70.6%. Shares of YG Entertainment, whose roster includes recent Coachella headliner Blackpink, are up 109.8% in 2023. Shares of HYBE fell slightly 0.4% but are up 62% year to date. Similarly, shares of SM Entertainment gained just 1.1% this week, but have grown 40% this year.