The 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) season is underway. The Atlanta Braves, one of the few publicly traded sports teams, compete to win the World Series.
Here's a look at the valuation of the team and betting odds for the 2024 season.
What Happened: The Braves won the World Series in 2021 — their first title since 1995. For the 2024 season, gamblers and MLB experts alike consider the Braves a betting favorite.
A potential playoff berth and World Series run could provide upside for Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc BATRA BATRK.
The team’s parent company is valued at a market capitalization of $2.56 billion and an enterprise value of $3.01 billion.
A recent ranking of MLB teams from Sportico listed the Braves as the sixth most valuable team, worth $3.4 billion. The team's valuation grew by 24% from the previous year, tied for the biggest jump among all MLB teams.
Based on the valuation and premiums that buyers have been paying to buy professional sports teams, the holding stock could be undervalued.
Perhaps that's why legendary investor and value stock picker Warren Buffett is still holdings shares of the Braves in the Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKBRK portfolio.
Benzinga previously shared that Berkshire Hathaway owns 223,645 shares since 2023. The shares came as Berkshire holding Liberty reclassified its holding companies and distributed shares of several units to shareholders.
Berkshire’s stake is valued at around 8.7 million. That’s small for the company, but Buffett has a keen eye for value and didn't sell after acquiring spinoff shares.
While he’s a fan of baseball, Buffett has also used the sport for investment analogies.
“The trick in investing is just to sit there and watch pitch and pitch go by and wait for the one right in your sweet spot. And if people are yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!’ ignore them,” Buffett said on "Becoming Warren Buffett," as shared by Darren Rovell.
Related Link: Amazon Scores Big With Regional Sports Network Deal: Prime Video To Feature MLB, NBA, NHL Games
Betting Odds: The Braves finished with the best record in baseball in 2023 going 104-58. An early exit in the National League Division Series ended the season earlier than expected.
For the 2024 season, the Braves are the betting favorite to win the NL East. The team was also picked by 24 of 26 MLB writers at ESPN to win the NL East. The Braves also rank second best among all teams to win their division.
The writers also made the Braves the most popular pick to win the National League Champions with 14 votes. The Los Angeles Dodgers scored 6 votes. The writers selected the Braves as the favorite to win the 2024 World Series, with 13 votes. The Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles had four votes each.
At DraftKings Inc DKNG, the Braves are a huge favorite to win the NL East with odds of -240. The Braves also rank second to win the National League Championship and World Series at odds of +240 and +450 respectively.
The Braves trail only the Dodgers in odds for the NL Championship (+180) and World Series (+350).
High expectations are on the Braves for the 2024 season as the team has made the playoffs six straight seasons and only made it to one World Series.
BATRA Price Action: Atlanta Braves Holdings shares trade at $41.90 versus a 52-week trading range of $34.20 to $54.94. Shares of the MLB team are up 25% over the last year.
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© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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