World Wrestling (WWE) Extends Strategic Partnership With Mars

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) announced the expansion of its existing partnership with Mars. Per the deal, two famous brands of Mars — SNICKERS and SKITTLES will obtain prominence and customer engagement across WWE’s global platforms.

Backed by this development, WWE Network will continue to provide live streaming benefits to the SNICKERS partnered event, WrestleMania — one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment events. Further, WWE will promote the SNICKERS campaign of ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’, in a customized manner across some its flagship TV shows. SNICKERS has also come up with five limited edition Hunger Bars in collaboration with WWE, with catchphrases based on WrestleMania stars. These new bars will be offered at Dollar General (NYSE:DG) stores starting Mar 18 through mid-April.

Additionally, as part of the extended partnership, SKITTLES will continue to partner with WWE’s event – Hell in a Cell, which will be aired in September.

Following this announcement, shares of WWE increased approximately 5% during the trading session on Mar 11. In the past three months, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock has gained roughly 20%, outperforming the industry’s 5% growth.



Prior to this, WWE extended its existing partnership with J SPORTS into its 22nd year with a new deal to broadcast flagship shows, Raw and SmackDown, live in Japan. Also, the company extended its partnership with SKY into its 19th year to continue broadcasting WWE programming in New Zealand.

These apart, WWE had earlier announced multi-year deals with Fox Sports and USA Network for its flagship programs. These five-year deals for the U.S. distribution of WWE programs will be effective Oct 1, 2019. Per the terms of the agreements, USA Network will continue to air Raw, while SmackDown will be broadcasted on Fridays on the Fox broadcast network.

According to management, these deals will improve the average annual value of WWE’s U.S. distribution. Earlier, management had stated that these agreements are likely bump up revenues from $311 million in 2019 to $462 million in 2021.

Moreover, WWE has been implementing strategies including the development of fresh content, execution of customer acquisition and retention programs, increase in distribution platform, the introduction of new features and foraying into new regions. Such efforts are likely to boost WWE Network’s revenues.

2 More Stocks to Watch

AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AMCX) delivered average positive earnings surprise of 13.4% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 7.2% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOXA) has long-term earnings per share growth rate of 11.7% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.

See their latest picks free >>

AMC Networks Inc. (AMCX): Free Stock Analysis Report

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE): Free Stock Analysis Report

Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (FOXA): Free Stock Analysis Report

Dollar General Corporation (DG): Free Stock Analysis Report

Original post

Zacks Investment Research