“Of the athletic brands, Adidas has the most exposure to football and will be the biggest beneficiary through sales of jerseys and soccer balls,” Cristina Fernandez, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group, tells Bloomberg in an emailed statement.
Livestreaming
JPMorgan Chase & Co. expects Twitter Inc. to benefit after the company partnered with Fox Sports to show World Cup highlights in almost real time. This year’s tournament could be a much larger deal for Twitter than it was in 2014, when the event contributed about $24 million of revenue in the second quarter, according to MKM Partners analyst Rob Sanderson. The competition could also provide traffic growth for Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps customers deliver content over the Internet, and for broadcasting and telecom companies that provide real-time streaming to mobile users.
Travel
Fans following the games are more likely to be glued to the TV and may procrastinate planning their summer travel, according to SunTrust analyst Naved Khan. This could potentially lead to weakness for Booking Holdings Inc.
TV Rights
U.S. advertising revenue tied to the World Cup is expected to be lower than in 2014 after the national team failed to qualify, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s Telemundo secured rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for about $1 billion back in 2015. The timing of matches -- many will be early in the morning -- will likely affect both networks too. Telemundo though, will be less impacted overall, “just because Hispanic viewers are still going to tune in,” BI analyst Amine Bensaid says.
World Cup Add-ons
FIFA video-game maker Electronic Arts Inc. may be another World Cup winner. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Matthew Kanterman wrote last month that he expects EA’s forecast will probably “prove conservative amid robust growth of live services such as FIFA Ultimate Team, with the World Cup probably driving a boost.”
Food and Beverages
Thai Beverage Pcl stands to benefit in soccer-mad Thailand. RHB Research Institute Pte. analyst Juliana Cai anticipates the World Cup will stimulate consumption for alcoholic beverages. Singapore’s Food Empire Holdings Ltd., which generated about 43 percent of sales last year from Russia, may also benefit.
The tournament is also likely to support earnings at Australia’s Domino’s Pizza Enterprises in June. Macquarie upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral on May 31.
Trading Volume
Besides losing sleep, Asian traders who have to stay up overnight for matches may also lose business. Trading volume and volatility are expected to slump in the next month. “People watch the World Cup and forget to trade,” said Hao Hong, chief strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. in Hong Kong. “They watch it overnight and don’t come to work.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.