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Panthers skate to success
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January 15, 1997: 2:45 p.m. ET
NHL team's stock rises, but firm still can't score hat trick and make profit
From Correspondent John Defterios
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The National Hockey League's Florida Panthers are part of the new breed of sports teams -- an expansion franchise that roared in to compete with established clubs.
Last year, the Panthers made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.
The team is also doing very well off the ice.
The Panthers' stock has risen around 90 percent since an initial public offering in November, trading at about $19 a share this week from a $10 IPO price.
The secret of the team's Wall Street success isn't a high-scoring forward, but the Panthers' high-flying founder, H. Wayne Huizenga.
Huizenga, best known as former head of the Blockbuster video-store chain, owns 42 percent of the team.
Investors are apparently betting that Huizenga can repeat the success he had with Blockbuster, which the executive transformed from a $32 million company to an $8 billion giant that he sold to Viacom Inc.
Huizenga also scored with a waste-management company that he built up almost from scratch into a $3 billion operation.
Sports analyst Marc Sulam of Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette said Huizenga's inventiveness is what draws investors to the Panthers. (184K WAV) or (184K AIFF)
Huizenga has vowed to grow the Panthers' business by diversifying the company.
Panthers stock had been stuck at around $10 a share until December, when the issue got an assist from word that the firm planned to buy Florida beachfront resorts.
Still, the Panthers lost money in their first three years, and aren't expected to make a profit for at least another two years.
That leaves analysts like Manish Shah of the IPO Maven wary of the stock.
"At best, it's volatile and probably has more risk on the downside than on the upside," Shah said. "The ability of the management will determine whether they can execute their expansion plans in the related businesses -- or not."
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