To survive a market like this, it takes a bit of brawn and a thick exterior. So look no further than World Wrestling Entertainment, which has managed to pump up a 15% gain this year, compared with a 9.1% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Shares are up an additional 1.6% today after the company announced an increase in its dividend by 50% to 36 cents a share from 24 cents a share. Rumors of this had fueled a bit of buying in the stock earlier in the week, and the stock has been lately on a roll, notes Beth Gaston Moon of Schaeffer’s Investment Research.
The recent surge in shares puts the stock into a territory it hasn’t seen since last summer, although at $17.36 a share, WWE is still short of its $18.60 52-week high reached on May 3 of last year. The bullish case analysts are making for the company revolves, like many others, around international expansion, as Wedbush Morgan Securities analysts explained in a note after the company body-slammed expectations in its most recent earnings report.
“WWE’s ability to post such robust growth across its businesses in today’s economic environment speaks to high brand loyalty from its audience,” they wrote. “But the company is not standing still. It has recently ramped up its international expansion, establishing a global footprint in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.”
