PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Live Nation

Benzinga's PreMarket Prep airs every morning from 8-9 a.m. ET. During that fast-paced, highly informative hour, traders and investors tune in to get the major news of the day, the catalysts behind those moves and the corresponding price action for the upcoming session.

On any given day, the show will cover at least 20 stocks determined by co-hosts Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick along with producer Spencer Israel.

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Not all reopening stocks have acted in the same manner off their March 2020 lows. While the airlines and cruise lines nicely rebounded off their COVID-19 pandemic lows, they never came close to their all-time highs,

However, Live Nation Entertainment LYV exploded to a new all-time high in March ($94.63), which was revisited in May and June, and at $80 isn't too far off the recent highs.

The Company: Live Nation is the largest live entertainment firm in the world with over 570 million fans served in 44 countries in 2018 by the company's concert and ticketing platforms. Live Nation also owns one of the largest ticketing services, Ticketmaster, which sold over 480 million tickets for over 12,000 clients in 2018.

Volatile In 2021: After tumbling to $21.70 in March 2020, Live Nation's stock was able to end the year just under its 2020 high ($76.60) at $73.48. In February, it bottomed for the third month in a row at the $66 area and exploded to end the month at $88.66.

It went on to peak in March ($94.63) and endured a few sharp retreats but revisited that high in May and June ($93.07 and $94) before selling off once again. On July 19, it matched its May 7 low ($74.01), bottoming at $74.23, and made several attempts to clear $82 but was off that level heading into Tuesday’s earnings report, ending the session at $78.33.

Q2 Report: After the close on Tuesday, Live Nation reported quarterly losses of $(0.90) per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $(1.20) by 25%. This is a 66.29% increase over losses of $(2.67) per share from the same period last year.

The company reported quarterly sales of $575.90 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $550.66 million by 4.58%. This is a 677.36% increase over sales of $74.08 million in the same period last year.

PreMarket Prep Take: When the issue was being covered on the show it was trading at the $80 area, with the premarket high standing at $81. The author of this article noted the multiple highs at $82 area for six days in a row at the end of July and the first trading day in August. Therefore, it was important to clear that level and more importantly, to hold above it for the issue to have a major day on the upside,

Price Action: After beginning the session at $80.47, it had a brief retreat to $80.05 and embarked on a strong rally. It was able to clear multiple highs at the $82 area, but ran out of buyers at $82.88, which coincided with its July 16 high ($82.93) and reversed course.

The ensuing decline has taken the issue to a new daily low at $79.75 as of 2:15 p.m. and is attempting to remain in the $80 handle.

The full discussion on the issue from Wednesday's show can be found here: