FanDuel parent's stock tumbles as the house just can't seem to win for its investors

MW FanDuel parent's stock tumbles as the house just can't seem to win for its investors

By Tomi Kilgore

Stock sinks toward lowest price in nearly four years after profit and sales missed expectations, and average user growth slowed

Shares of FanDuel's parent were pointing down after disappointing earnings. Its users lost too many bets and left for competitors.

Shares of FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment were pointing down toward the lowest prices seen in years in early Friday trading, a day after the online sports-betting and iGaming platform's fourth-quarter results disappointed investors in more ways than one.

The big problem with the latest quarter seemed to be that FanDuel won too many bets, leaving its users tapped out and unable to bet more. And because the company mistimed offers for free bets, those users went to competitors offering betting deals.

"For a management team historically viewed as operationally disciplined, allowing margin optimization to run to the point of impairing customer activity represents a notable lapse in execution," Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey wrote in a note to clients. "This is not simply a sports results issue; it reflects a breakdown in customer lifecycle management during a period of elevated competitive intensity."

In the previous quarter, the company reported disappointing sportsbook results due to "customer-friendly" sports results for the first two months of the quarter.

The stock $(FLUT)$ dropped 12.8% in premarket trading, putting it on track to open around the lowest prices seen since October 2022.

Separately, CEO Peter Jackson tried to assuage concerns that the prediction-market platform the company launched in December would cannibalize its sports-betting offering, writing in a shareholder letter that, after a comprehensive review, "we have not identified any evidence of any meaningful impact."

For the latest quarter, the company said that revenue rose 24.9% from a year ago to $4.74 billion, but that missed the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $4.93 billion. In the U.S., sportsbook revenue jumped 35.4% to $1.5 billion.

Average monthly players in the U.S. increased 5.3% to 4.8 million, while growth in wagers was slower, up 3% to $16.86 billion. The growth in average players was down from 8% in the previous quarter.

"Our standard generosity playbook proved less effective in [the fourth quarter] as our investment phasing did not sufficiently align with the pattern of sports results during this period," Jackson said, according to an AlphaSense transcript of the postearnings call with analysts. "As a result, we saw a higher churn within our customer base as a result of loss of market share."

That's his way of saying the company should've provided more betting deals after their users had lost their money, so they didn't have to leave for other betting platforms.

Adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, fell to $1.74 from $2.94 a year ago, and fell short of the FactSet EPS consensus of $1.85.

Flutter's stock has fallen 54.7% over the past 12 months through Thursday, while shares of rival DraftKings $(DKNG)$ have shed 45% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 17.9%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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February 27, 2026 08:32 ET (13:32 GMT)

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