• 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 (NASDAQ: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 (NYSE: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 (NASDAQ: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 (NYSE: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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