What happened
Shares of DraftKings (DKNG 2.71%) were running almost 9% higher in morning trading Wednesday after the daily fantasy sports and sports betting outfit held a virtual investor day conference yesterday and wowed analysts.
So what
Online sports wagering has been one of the hottest tickets in gambling and DraftKings is one of the leaders, along with FanDuel.
After hearing of DraftKings' plans, analysts immediately began upgrading their stock price targets. There was little need to boost their outlook as Wall Street was already fairly bullish, but the conference cemented their opinion that the sportsbook was going to be a dominating force.
Image source: DraftKings.
Craig-Hallum analyst Ryan Sigdahl views DraftKings stock as "a must-own for growth investors" because it's still "early innings of a megatrend in online gambling over the next decade." Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Allen said the fact DraftKings is active in a dozen states, more than any other player, will allow it to use its scale to "differentiate" itself in the sports betting and online gambling markets.
Now what
Analysts quickly raised their price targets to a range between $70 and $75 per share, which based on DraftKings' closing price yesterday of around $62 per share, implied some 20% upside on the high end. The sportsbook was trying to live up to the growth stock name and quickly narrow that gap in trading today.
