If you’re a big sports fan, an investor (or both), and want to own a stake in a couple of the most storied franchises in sports, take a look at Madison Square Garden (MSG). There’s 100% potential upside, according to value investor Andrew Walker of Rangeley Capital. Walker is a Director of Research and Portfolio Manager at the New Canaan, CT-based investment firm specializing in event-driven, value-oriented investment opportunities.
“One of the big things we’ve constantly talked about is over the last 20 or 30 years, stocks have done great, but the things that have done really well are expensive trophy assets, paintings, fine wines, and sports teams,” Walker says in this new HedgeyeTV interview above. “There just aren’t a lot of publically traded ways to play sports teams.”
The best trophy asset in the world of public equities, he says, is Madison Square Garden. The company owns both the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, plus the similarly-named arena and the highly-valued Manhattan real estate it sits on. Walker sees significant upside in the shares. He says MSG’s assets are considerably more than its current market cap of $5 billion.
Consider a simple sum of its parts valuation for each of MSG’s four main businesses: Forbes currently values the Knicks and Rangers at $3.3 billion and $1.25 billion respectively. The Madison Square Garden arena was recently tax assessed at $1.2 billion (but that doesn’t include the value of the arena’s air rights).
That’s already $5.7 billion.
But don’t forget to add in $1.2 billion in net cash and investments, plus various other assets like the Rockettes and LA concert venue The Forum. Add it all together, Walker says, “Shares could double over the next couple years very easily.”
