LYV - Live Nation Q3 blows past estimates as concert demand surges amid Swift Beyoncé dominance

2023-11-03 11:10:10 ET

Ticketmaster-parent Live Nation ( NYSE: LYV ) posted quarterly results that smashed estimates, buoyed by a surge in demand for live concerts such as those by musicians Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.

LYV stock jumped as much as 6.9% in pre-market trading, then gave up most of those gains after the opening bell and was last up 2% to $84.14.

Live Nation ( LYV ) after hours on Thursday reported Q3 adjusted earnings per share of $1.78, blowing past estimates by 62 cents. Revenue soared 32% Y/Y to $8.15B, also beating expectations by over $1B.

Revenue from concert tickets, Live Nation's ( LYV ) biggest driver of sales, increased about 32% Y/Y to $6.97B in Q3, which the company said was an all-time high. Adjusted operating margin from concerts rose 21% Y/Y to $341M, with LYV selling 155.4M tickets globally, compared to 135.3M a year ago.

Live Nation's ( LYV ) results come at a time when demand for live music entertainment has exploded, helped by more and more artists announcing tours amid a continued recovery from the pandemic-era.

LYV top boss Michael Rapino on the earnings conference call said there was an "unprecedented global desire for concerts" happening at "all levels with both casual and diehard fans and from small clubs to massive stadium events."

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour were the two highest grossing concerts of 2023, according to data from Forbes, with the former having gross $780M and the latter $460M.

The CEO on the call was asked whether there was any concern that the success of those two tours would be hard to replicate next year.

"When we look at any artist across Ticketmaster Live Nation, no artist is going to account for more than 1% of the tickets. So no one tour will ever hurt us year-over-year, it’s about our macro portfolio of artists and tours," Rapino said.

Live Nation's ( LYV ) results also come after the Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) was probing whether LYV uses anticompetitive agreements with venues and artists.

Addressing the DoJ article, LYV CFO Joe Berchtold on the earnings conference call said: "As far as we can tell nobody thinks that the fundamentals that drive our promotions business are unlawful. We pay top dollar to artists and provide them with top-notch tour support and those are good things."

Turning to Live Nation's ( LYV ) outlook, the company said event-related deferred revenue in Q3 was up 39% Y/Y to $2.6B, which reflected "continued momentum into 2024."

More on Live Nation Entertainment

• Live Nation: Strong Business Moat With A Large TAM
• Live Nation: Ticketmaster Breakup Improbable, But Exposes Vulnerabilities
• Mastercard, Live Nation partnership expands to 19 markets in Europe, Asia
• Evercore boosts Live Nation, shaking off antitrust probes
• Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating on Live Nation

For further details see: