Evercore ISI said accelerating growth and durable demand for live events should be two main drivers for Live Nation Entertainment heading into the new year. The investment firm singled out the entertainment stock as its top pick in media for 2026. As catalysts for a bull case, analyst Kutgun Maral cited his outlook for accelerating consolidated adjusted operating income growth, increasing visibility into Live Nation's earnings power and durable demand for live events. Maral reiterated his outperform rating on the stock and raised his price target to $188 from $168, which implies upside of about 33%. LYV YTD mountain LYV YTD chart "Combined with a healthy existing portfolio — including accelerating Concerts fan growth, a more stable outlook at Ticketmaster as secondary market headwinds become better understood with potential upside from easier comps, sponsorship benefiting from Venue Nation continuing to scale, and improving regulatory visibility — we see a credible path for AOI growth to accelerate from 10.0% in 2025E to 13.0%/13.8%/14.2% in 2026E/27E/28E, well north of consensus," Maral added. "We raise our price target from $168 to $188 (17.0x 2027 EV/AOI) on increased conviction in the earnings outlook." The analyst singled out Venue Nation, Live Nation's global venue development and operations platform, as a critical driver for incremental growth. He said this business represents the single largest source of adjusted operating income growth in the near future. The company's existing portfolio also remains healthy, while its 2026 setup appears particularly attractive. Maral pointed to three main catalysts driving the stock forward for the next year — an acceleration in concerts fan growth, waning ticketing headwinds and a scaling in sponsorships. The analyst also believes that Live Nation's recent regulatory troubles with the Department of Justice could transform from an overhang into a resolution. "With respect to the FTC complaint, Live Nation has already implemented substantive improvements related to bot mitigation and secondary market practices, areas that are not core drivers of the business," he wrote. "Pending further visibility on the DOJ case, we assume any eventual fine could be headline-grabbing but modest relative to Live Nation's balance sheet and long-term growth trajectory." Shares of Live Nation are up 10% on the year.
