It was a huge day for Madison Square Garden Entertainment (NYSE:MSGE), which saw its share price shoot up over 22% at one point. At the time of writing, gains fell to about 13%, but it was still a good day. What fueled such a good day, though, were solid results and plans to raise some cash with a property sale.
Madison Square Garden’s earnings report featured both top and bottom-line beats. Earnings came in at $0.42 per share, ahead of analyst projections of $0.21. Revenue also proved a win, coming in at $201.23 million against analyst projections of $192 million. Plus, the firm had good things to say about upcoming earnings as well, reaffirming earlier projections. Madison Square Garden cited ongoing demand for live shows and the like and expects to host around 900 different events with over five million guests total.
Then there’s the matter of a possible real estate sale: the former Hulu Theater. Now the Theater at Madison Square Garden, “people familiar with the matter,” detailed how a private development operation out of Italy is interested in not only the theater but also the service road. However, these are early-stage reports; an actual deal is nowhere near ready yet. Just what will be done with the theater is also unclear, but with the deal valued at around $1 billion, that’s plenty of extra cash in Madison’s coffers.
The news comes at a good time for MSGE stock. It was already on a slightly uphill cant, to begin with. The recent news about the theater, meanwhile, lit a fire under the stock and sent it nicely upward. Those upward gains didn’t prove sustainable, though Madison Square Garden Entertainment stock is still well above where it was at yesterday’s close.
