Financial Analysts Bullish on DraftKings Stock

• DraftKings Inc. stock price has risen 174% year to date
• Barry Jonas of Truist Securities raised his DraftKings target to $31
• Despite recent success, DraftKings still nowhere near its all-time high of $71.98 in May 2021

DraftKings is enjoying its highest stock price of the year, and since December 2021, as it moves closer to reporting its earnings  after the day’s business concludes on Aug. 3 and through a planned conference call of its Q2 2023 results on Aug. 4.

DraftKings stock closed Thursday at $30.68. The company stock has risen 174% to date, but is still nowhere near its all-time high of $71.98 in May 2021.

But several financial analysts are bullish on the company moving forward into its third quarter.

DraftKings Stock Maintains Hold Status

Shares of the company have gained 27.46% over the past month.

Barry Jonas of Truist Securities issued a statement on DraftKings earlier this week, raising his adjusted price target for the stock from $26 to $31. Jonas reaffirmed his “hold” status for the stock and introduced new EBITDA estimates for the company.

Jonas assumes a positive EBITDA of $21.3 in the second quarter for DraftKings before it likely dips back down with increased marketing spend around the NFL season as additional bonuses are  mad available to customers through the use of a DraftKings promo code.

The market seems to be dictating confidence in the top two sports betting operators, FanDuel and DraftKings, which likely won’t change moving forward into fall, the busiest sports betting period of the year. DraftKings also significantly cut costs this year, reducing its promotional spend during state launches. The company also cut 140 jobs in February 2023, nearly 3.5% of its workforce.

Another Breakout in Q3 2023?

Ethan Feller, an analyst for Yahoo! Finance, wrote recently that the DraftKing stock is set up nicely moving into Q3 2023. While earnings are still project to be net negative in its next earning call, Feller wrote the stock has seen upgrades over the last few months.

Estimates for Q2 show nearly a 7% increase, he reported, and are expected to grow 46% year over year.

“FY23 earnings estimates have been boosted by 2% and are projected to climb 42% YoY,” Feller wrote in the article.

According to Zacks Equity Research on Yahoo! Finance, DraftKings is expected to report EPS of -$0.27, up 46% from the prior year quarter.

“DKNG’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of -$1.84 per share and revenue of $3.25 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +41.77% and +45.2%, respectively.”