Sphere Entertainment Posts Surprise Earnings Win, Updates On Mini-Spheres

Shares of Sphere Entertainment stock soared in early trading Monday after the company — the parent of both the eponymous Las Vegas venue and the MSG family of TV networks — posted a massive earnings surprise in the second quarter.

A combination of debt restructuring on the TV side and improved performance at the venue resulted in earnings per share of $3.39, a massive bottom line beat as analysts had predicted a loss of $1.55 per share. Shares of the stock surged to $45, up nearly 12% from Friday’s close, before leveling out back around $40 by midday.

On the top line, revenues of $282.7 million are up 3% against last year, a slight beat of expectations of $281 million.

For the venue, revenues of $175.6 million were up $24.4 million against Q2 2024, a 16% increase. Event revenues, which increased $26.7 million were the driver there, as the bullding hosted nine more concert dates than the same quarter last year plus increased corporate events. Revenue from The Sphere Experience was off $6.7 million against same quarter prior year with a lower per-share average not able to overcome increased showings.

Sponsorship, Exosphere and suite-related revenues were down slightly — $500,000.

During the post-release earnings call, Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan said progress on the second Sphere in Abu Dhabi was progressing, discussions about other large-scale Spheres are underway and said that the “small-scale Spheres” able to be deployed in smaller markets were well into development.

“With regards to our expansion plans, we recently entered into agreements related to the construction, development, and operation of Sphere Abu Dhabi and are now finalizing the preconstruction phase with the Department of Culture and Tourism,” he said. “At the same time, discussions are ongoing with a number of other international markets regarding large scale Spheres. In addition, we have now completed our design and business model for small scale Spheres, which could be built faster and at lower cost and are already in the market having discussions with potential partners.”

On the MSG Networks side, the big headline was a major debt restructuring and rights renegotiation, issues that had loomed over that segment for months and proved to be headwinds for the broader company.