The Bottom Line: Dramatic falls across Betting and Gaming while Comcast recovers

This month’s iSportConnect Business Index sees big wins among broadcasters and apparel business and some dramatic losses across the Betting and Gaming sectors. Twice CityAM Analyst of the Year, Ian Whittaker gives his views on what has happened over the last month.

The last four weeks has been dominated by the Q2 results season, which are now pretty much done, as well as the usual macroeconomic signals as investors try to navigate what can seem like conflicting sets of data. Apple shares took a hit as investors digested another quarterly revenue decline and what was seen as mixed guidance. Amazon, on the other hand, benefited from stronger than expected numbers.

The same could be seen across the index, with Comcast benefiting from a recovery in Theme Parks and FIlms, thus helping its results while Netflix was dragged down by continued concerns over long-term growth prospects. In Gaming, Roblox suffered a revenue miss which sent its shares tumbling and Electronic Arts, whilst posting decent Q1 numbers, gave fiscal Q2 guidance that was seen as disappointing.

Across the whole gaming space, concerns over mobile gaming continue to linger and that has impacted Tencent, which also was hit by poorly received results. Perhaps the most sub-sector specific newsflow was in Betting where the Penn-ESPN deal caused other names in the space to fall such as Draft Kings. Flutter, meanwhile was impacted by the lack of an expected upgrade to full year guidance at its numbers as well as weakness in its Australian business. Finally, in apparel, continued uncertainties over the pace of Chinese recovery, has impacted Adidas and Nike, although Puma has shrugged off the concerns