John Malone may still sell the Atlanta Braves, and its stock rallies 40%, Rosenblatt says

Investors can still bank on a share-boosting sale of Atlanta Braves Holdings , according to Rosenblatt Securities. In a report out on Wednesday, Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett brushed off remarks from Liberty Media chairman John Malone late last week that the Braves were "not for sale." In fact, Crockett raised his price target on the Braves by $1 to $54, a figure that he said assumes a future buyout deal and which implies upside of almost 40% from Wednesday's close. Liberty Media owns 17% of the Braves' Series C non-voting shares that trade under ticker symbol BATRK, Malone another 6% and Braves and Liberty Media CEO Gregory Maffei some 2.25%, according to FacSet data. Majority control of the Braves' voting stock remains in Malone and Liberty's hands. "Malone's talk, in our opinion, was more a cover-your-tax-backside missive, than a statement of no way, ain't gonna happen," Crockett, who has a buy rating on the Braves, wrote to clients. "We believe the statements seeming to indicate no interest in a sale would melt away if a credible offer landed in the Braves' owners suite, after tax-seasoning is attained on July 18." That date refers to the one-year anniversary of the Braves Holdings spinoff from Liberty Media in 2023. BATRK YTD mountain Atlanta Braves Holdings, year to date Crockett said Malone's comments likely came as more of a bid to temper near-term legal concerns than actually dismiss interest from buyers. And he said offers should roll in, "given a continuing active market for sports assets, particularly from billionaires pining for the durable financial returns, fun, and glory of owning a team." "We are convinced that if a qualified buyer approached the Braves, a deal could happen," he said. "But, also to be clear, Malone probably would want the buyer to be someone Braves management is comfortable with. That should be eminently doable." The Braves are one of the few sports teams that everyday investors can buy into via the public market. And they're good, having won the 2021 World Series and gone to the National League Division Series in both 2022 and 2023. This year, the Braves have the seventh best record in Major League Baseball, according to ESPN. Despite that, the Series C non-voting shares have slipped 1.5% in 2024, sitting out the broader market's rally. The S & P 500 is ahead 12.2% this year, as of Wednesday's close. Including Crockett, only four analysts on Wall Street cover the Braves, and three of them rate it a buy. One of them, David Joyce at Seaport Global, has an even higher $58 price target on the Braves's Series C stock. For all of them, it doesn't hurt that the Braves were 11 games over .500 with the third-best record in the National League as of Wednesday's market close.