Sports Betting Company Flutter Gets Buy Rating During NFL Playoffs: 'Core Multi-Year Holding'

A Sports betting and iGaming analyst sees several catalysts for Flutter Entertainment FLUT that include the growing number of legalized states and size of the sports betting market.

The Flutter Entertainment Analyst: Stifel analyst Jeffrey Stantial initiated coverage on Flutter Entertainment with a Buy rating and $320 price target.

The Analyst Takeaways: Flutter's market share leadership in online sports betting and iGaming in four of the largest regulated markets makes a compelling case for the stock, Stantial said in the new investor note.

"We forecast a compelling multiyear FCF growth algorithm underpinned by secular TAM expansion and FLUT's unique product/scale flywheel," Stantial said.

The analyst sees upside to 2026 and 2027 estimates with increased total addressable market size for the sector, regulation driven consolidation and revenue synergies.

Positives for the stock include market share leadership in the "prized U.S. market,” an improving business model, upside for developing international market, opportunity for M&A activity and a healthy balance sheet and S&P 500 index inclusion.

For the U.S. market, the analyst sees healthy user acquisition and monetization and new state expansion providing positive momentum.

"We view FLUT as a core multi-year holding with runway for both positive estimate revisions and multiple expansion."

The analyst predicts there could be "more runway left" for the stock with potential financial beats and raised guidance from the U.S. online sports betting opportunity.

FanDuel's improvements in iCasino are also highlighted in the investor note with a focus on expansion to iCasino players instead of just relying on cross-selling to online sports betting users.

With a large number of states already having legalized online sports betting, the rate of new state legalization is slowing. The analyst predicts that state budget deficits could push more new states to legalize online sports betting and iCasino.

"We think valuation factors little-to-no credit for potential new state expansion," Stantial concluded.

FLUT Price Action: Flutter Entertainment stock is up 1% to $260.65 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $174.03 to $284.79. Flutter stock is up 58% over the last year.

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