LT Weekly: May 09, 2025
This was a TGIF week for sure. A whopping 85 companies in our LionTree Universe reported, which unearthed an almost never-ending stream of key developments and updates across numerous sub-sectors within the sector. The market backdrop this week also skewed positive on the back of progress on the trade front, which helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hold on to most of last week’s gains.
There was a lot to digest this week, but we focused on the below themes:
- The Earnings Scorecard – Week 4
- Disney: Better Late Than Never... FY25 Adj EPS Guidance Goes Way Up
- WBD & PARA Have A Clearer Line Of Sight To Hit Their Streaming Profitability Targets
- Warner Music Group Is In A "Moment Of Transition"
- Uber's Finding The Right Balance Btw Growing The Top-Line & Growing Profitability
- DoorDash Strengthens & Bolsters Its Market Position Via 2 "Business as Usual" Acquisitions
- DraftKings...The Odds Are In Favor Of This Customer Friendly Winning Streak Ending
- EA's Inflection Point Is Finally On The Horizon
- It Looks Like Q4 Was An Anomaly & The Trade Desk Is Back On Track
- Follow-up On Digital Advertising, Live Entertainment, & Online Travel: Pinterest, TKO, Expedia, & Clear
This is another robust update!
Have a nice weekend and for all the moms out there, have a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Best,
Leslie
The Earnings Scorecard – Week 4
If we thought the 40 companies in our LionTree Universe that reported Q1 results was crazy last week…this week, that more than doubled to 85. Similar to the last two weeks, earnings reactions were biased to the upside, with 45 companies (53%) trading up post their prints, and 40 companies (47%) trading down. E-Commerce companies bookended the best and worst performers of the group, with ThredUp shooting up +47.7% in reaction to its results and The RealReal plunging -30.7%.
Several sectors had key prints out this week, and arguably the biggest prints in our Universe came from the media sector. Disney was the first out the gate and started off strong, climbing up +10.6% after reporting (see Theme #2). That was followed by both WBD and Paramount, which also saw positive reactions, up +5.3% and +2.2%, respectively (see Theme #3). Warner Music Group finished out the key earnings reports for this qtr, though it had a tough reaction from the Street and fell -7.9% (see Theme #4). On the video gaming side, Electronic Arts fared a bit better and was slightly up +0.6% (see Theme #8).
Moving over to the last-mile/delivery space, it was a tough ride as both Uber fell -2.5% (see Theme #5), as did DoorDash down -7.4% (see Theme #6). Key prints were also out in the AdTech space with The Trade Desk, which traded up +18.6% (see Theme #9), as well as sports betting with DraftKings, which traded up a more modest +2.5% (see Theme #7).
Finally, we had a couple of follow-up sector results that we took a quick look at, including Pinterest, which was up +4.9% after its report, TKO, down -5.5%, Expedia, down -7.3%, and Clear, down -7.6% (see Theme #10).