# Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/MSGS

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:30:25.038Z. Financial observations: FY2012–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $404.66 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 3 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 4

- Operating margin variation: 16.13×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -0.04×

- FY2018: 0.01×

- FY2019: -0.08×

- FY2020: -0.15×

- FY2021: -0.19×

- FY2022: 0.10×

- FY2023: 0.10×

- FY2024: 0.14×

- FY2025: 0.01×

- FY2026: 0.03×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 6.5pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 2.3%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -10.1%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 6.5 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 34.2%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 27.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.2%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 0.2%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -4.9%

- FY2018: 2.3%

- FY2019: -1.9%

- FY2020: -13.4%

- FY2021: -10.1%

- FY2022: 10.8%

- FY2023: 10.7%

- FY2024: 18.3%

- FY2025: 2.2%

- FY2026: 3.8%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.07×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $153M

- Net income, five-year total: $143M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 12.5%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -4.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 5.0%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 1.08×

- FY2023: 1.05×

- FY2024: 1.03×

- FY2025: 1.00×

- FY2026: 1.23×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -1.9% vs 3.8%

- Per-share earnings: -2.17 to 0.32 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -3.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.1%

- Market cap gain: $3.2B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $19M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -3.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value change: $2.49

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$2.17

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.32

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.53

- Average buyback yield: 0.7%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $203M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $27M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -1.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 3.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -$2.17

- FY2018: $5.94

- FY2019: $0.48

- FY2020: -$7.62

- FY2021: -$0.58

- FY2022: $2.10

- FY2023: $1.98

- FY2024: $2.44

- FY2025: -$0.93

- FY2026: $0.32

### accounting: fail

- latest-year receivables to sales index (DSRI) exceeds 1.465

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -3.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.83×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 36.4%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 7.63×

- Accounting red flags: 2

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -7.9%

- FY2018: -2.0%

- FY2019: -3.9%

- FY2020: -14.4%

- FY2021: 1.5%

- FY2022: -9.1%

- FY2023: -7.5%

- FY2024: -2.3%

- FY2025: -7.2%

- FY2026: -3.3%

## Holders

- [John Rogers](https://gigainvestors.com/AI): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Bill Gates](https://gigainvestors.com/GFT): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Nick Train](https://gigainvestors.com/LT): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Mason Hawkins](https://gigainvestors.com/SE): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Up 141% since Oct 2023 · sales +11%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:12.704Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +11%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm; observed 2026-08-13.

- FY2017: $1.3B 

- FY2018: $1.6B 

- FY2019: $729M 

- FY2020: $603M 

- FY2021: $416M 

- FY2022: $821M 

- FY2023: $887M 

- FY2024: $1.0B 

- FY2025: $1.0B 

- FY2026: $1.2B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 27.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm; observed 2026-08-13.

- FY2017: 26.5% 

- FY2018: 31.6% 

- FY2019: 36.9% 

- FY2020: 37.4% 

- FY2021: 30.9% 

- FY2022: 38.4% 

- FY2023: 37.8% 

- FY2024: 39.7% 

- FY2025: 27.0% 

- FY2026: 27.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in entertainment; annual sales are USD 1.2 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm (filed 2026-08-13); FY2026: revenue 1153822000; grossProfit 320120000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 27% to 39.7% during 2024–26; it earns 2.3% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 39.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 27%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm (filed 2026-08-13); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 27.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,-0.04879337586124832],[2018,0.023218367655203666],[2019,-0.018979448104637437],[2020,-0.1340908622624501],[2021,-0.1006215476802363],[2022,0.10774146366010436],[2023,0.10709234262988282],[2024,0.18343681579349114],[2025,0.02234559270168361],[2026,0.03833504603874732]]; median 0.02278198017844364. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 9 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2018: growth capex 75428000; upkeep 122486000; cash acquisitions 8288000; owner earnings 141594000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.5912397417969688.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 932000; owner earnings 55241000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 1181000; cash acquisitions 3024000; owner earnings 50189000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.060252246508199006.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 1451000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 60484000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm (filed 2026-08-13); FY2026: growth capex 0; upkeep 1407000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 9531000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); Dividend observations: [[2017,827076000],[2018,827076000],[2019,827076000],[2020,827076000],[2021,13891000],[2022,0],[2023,170923000],[2024,701000],[2025,633000],[2026,472000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); MSGS.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.5029999999999997 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 8.5 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-08-13); Closing price 404.66 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2026 annual sales per share 47.57636483588983; price multiple 8.505483792127382. FY2026 cash earnings/share 0.3929985155863434. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $165.49 per share

- 2016-11: $173.64 per share

- 2016-12: $171.51 per share

- 2017-01: $175.67 per share

- 2017-02: $179.36 per share

- 2017-03: $199.71 per share

- 2017-04: $201.77 per share

- 2017-05: $195.41 per share

- 2017-06: $196.90 per share

- 2017-07: $219.72 per share

- 2017-08: $212.51 per share

- 2017-09: $214.10 per share

- 2017-10: $222.69 per share

- 2017-11: $216.65 per share

- 2017-12: $210.85 per share

- 2018-01: $215.84 per share

- 2018-02: $244.20 per share

- 2018-03: $245.80 per share

- 2018-04: $243.02 per share

- 2018-05: $262.04 per share

- 2018-06: $310.19 per share

- 2018-07: $312.18 per share

- 2018-08: $301.94 per share

- 2018-09: $315.32 per share

- 2018-10: $276.62 per share

- 2018-11: $270.02 per share

- 2018-12: $267.70 per share

- 2019-01: $277.90 per share

- 2019-02: $288.14 per share

- 2019-03: $293.13 per share

- 2019-04: $312.44 per share

- 2019-05: $295.84 per share

- 2019-06: $279.94 per share

- 2019-07: $290.04 per share

- 2019-08: $252.33 per share

- 2019-09: $263.52 per share

- 2019-10: $266.92 per share

- 2019-11: $281.78 per share

- 2019-12: $294.19 per share

- 2020-01: $296.19 per share

- 2020-02: $267.82 per share

- 2020-03: $211.41 per share

- 2020-04: $171.32 per share

- 2020-05: $170.63 per share

- 2020-06: $146.89 per share

- 2020-07: $153.69 per share

- 2020-08: $164.00 per share

- 2020-09: $150.48 per share

- 2020-10: $141.64 per share

- 2020-11: $169.40 per share

- 2020-12: $184.10 per share

- 2021-01: $161.89 per share

- 2021-02: $192.35 per share

- 2021-03: $179.46 per share

- 2021-04: $184.84 per share

- 2021-05: $185.04 per share

- 2021-06: $172.57 per share

- 2021-07: $162.74 per share

- 2021-08: $180.78 per share

- 2021-09: $185.95 per share

- 2021-10: $189.51 per share

- 2021-11: $172.27 per share

- 2021-12: $173.73 per share

- 2022-01: $166.07 per share

- 2022-02: $173.00 per share

- 2022-03: $179.36 per share

- 2022-04: $162.11 per share

- 2022-05: $163.86 per share

- 2022-06: $151.00 per share

- 2022-07: $153.78 per share

- 2022-08: $160.27 per share

- 2022-09: $136.66 per share

- 2022-10: $156.61 per share

- 2022-11: $162.84 per share

- 2022-12: $183.33 per share

- 2023-01: $181.84 per share

- 2023-02: $191.14 per share

- 2023-03: $194.85 per share

- 2023-04: $200.50 per share

- 2023-05: $176.65 per share

- 2023-06: $188.05 per share

- 2023-07: $212.75 per share

- 2023-08: $178.00 per share

- 2023-09: $176.30 per share

- 2023-10: $168.14 per share

- 2023-11: $169.19 per share

- 2023-12: $181.83 per share

- 2024-01: $185.10 per share

- 2024-02: $188.19 per share

- 2024-03: $184.52 per share

- 2024-04: $185.92 per share

- 2024-05: $184.65 per share

- 2024-06: $188.13 per share

- 2024-07: $200.41 per share

- 2024-08: $209.05 per share

- 2024-09: $208.26 per share

- 2024-10: $222.70 per share

- 2024-11: $229.95 per share

- 2024-12: $225.68 per share

- 2025-01: $219.87 per share

- 2025-02: $203.69 per share

- 2025-03: $194.72 per share

- 2025-04: $192.57 per share

- 2025-05: $189.89 per share

- 2025-06: $208.95 per share

- 2025-07: $202.10 per share

- 2025-08: $197.84 per share

- 2025-09: $227.00 per share

- 2025-10: $214.39 per share

- 2025-11: $228.03 per share

- 2025-12: $258.65 per share

- 2026-01: $283.55 per share

- 2026-02: $331.66 per share

- 2026-03: $321.40 per share

- 2026-04: $342.46 per share

- 2026-05: $374.29 per share

- 2026-06: $401.84 per share

- 2026-07: $393.68 per share

- 2026-08: $384.73 per share

- 2026-09: $405.21 per share

- 2026-10: $404.66 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1636519/000162828026056812/msgs-20260630.htm); period 2026-06-30, filed 2026-08-13.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.