Barron's Latest Picks And Pans: Zillow, Coca Cola, Illumina, Spotify And More

• This weekend's Barron's cover story says there will be a dramatic increase in betting on this year's Super Bowl, a trend that's likely to continue for years to come.
• Other featured articles discuss a sign of hope for an online real-estate marketplace and why investors are pleased with the earnings of a beverage giant.
• Also, a gene-sequencing leader shows strong results and why Spotify may be underestimating the gravity of the Joe Rogan controversy.

"The $22 Billion Wager: DraftKings and Others Are Reaching for a Piece of the Sports-Gambling Prize," by Avi Salzman says bookmakers have always been busy on Super Bowl Sunday, but this year will be a bonanza like never before. Bettors are on track to wager $7.6 billion on the game, up 78% from last year.

In "Zillow Stock Soars on Strong Results. The Company Says Exiting the Homebuying Business Was the Right Call," Eric Savitz writes that Zillow Group Inc Z stock spiked this week after the online real estate services company posted better-than-expected quarterly results. The company said it made progress on exiting its iBuying business, selling off inventory more quickly than expected. 

"Coca-Cola’s Earnings Top Estimates. Sales Rise on Higher Prices," by Sabrina Escobar details the price increase of Coca-Cola Co KO stock after the beverage giant reported earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations, and the company's anticipates organic revenue growth of 7% to 8% during the 2022 fiscal year.

Bill Alpert write that Illumina Inc ILMN alerted investors a month ago that it beat Wall Street forecasts for December-quarter sales, and the gene-sequencing leader reported a strong earnings beat for the quarter this week in "Illumina’s Sales Grew, But Biotech Investors Are Hard to Impress."

In a commentary titled "Spotify Lost Sight of What Made It Great," Ian Chaffee writes that he doubts Spotify Technology SA SPOT is seriously considering the gravity of the stress test for its platform, its disaffected staff, and disappearing subscribers as the controversy over Joe Rogan, the company's top podcaster, intensifies. 

See Also: Benzinga Bulls And Bears Of The Past Week: Meta, Spotify, Peloton, Twitter, Johnson & Johnson And More

Also in this week's Barron's:

Stocks Take It on the Chin From Inflation and Strong Words From a Fed Official

The Post-Omicron Services Spending Boom Has Begun, Credit-Card Data Indicate

Food and Fuel Prices Surge. Here Are the Other Things Costing You a Lot More.

China Vowed to Spend $200 Billion More on U.S. Goods. It Didn't Spend a Dime More.

Wireless Services Are Defying Inflation. Here's Why.

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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