YG Entertainment Shares Gain Big on 'APT' Release as K-Pop Stocks Rise Worldwide

As earnings season prepares to begin, K-pop companies were among the week's rare winners as music stocks snapped a six-week winning streak.

YG Entertainment is up 6.1% this week as the company appears to have a hit with BLACKPINK member ROSÉ's “APT” featuring Bruno Mars. The track got off to a spectacular start this week, topping Spotify's global and US daily streaming charts and earning 13.3 million US streams in its first four days of release. SM Entertainment, home to NCT 127 and RIIZE, rose 4.1%, while HYBE, with a roster that includes Seventeen and Tomorrow X Together, improved 2.1%. JYP Entertainment, the agency behind Stray Kids and ITZY, improved 1.4%.

Share prices are likely to see movement in the coming weeks as companies release their results for the quarter ended September 30. The first music companies out of the gate are Reservoir Media (Oct. 30), SiriusXM (Oct. 31), Universal Music Group (Oct. 31), and Cumulus Media (Nov. 1). Other companies that have announced earnings release dates include Sony Corp. (November 8), Tencent Music Entertainment (November 12), Live Nation (November 12) and Spotify (November 12).

The Billboard 20 Global Music Index (BGMI) fell 0.6% to 1,974.72 in the week ended Oct. 25 after breaking 2,000 for the first time last week and posting gains over the previous five weeks. In the week ended October 18, the BGMI hit 2,001.28, more than doubling in value since the index was launched in February 2022. After the recent decline, the index's year-to-date gain stood at 29.7%, ahead of Nasdaq composite (up 23.4%) and S&P 500 (up 21.8%).

Stock markets were mixed this week. In the US, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 18,518.61, while the Nasdaq composite fell 1.0% to 5,808.12, despite Tesla's 22% gain after the electric vehicle maker beat expectations for earnings and upgraded its growth prospects. In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell 1.6% to 8,248.84 points. South Korea's KOSPI composite index fell 0.4 percent to 2,583.27. China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.2 percent to 3,299.70.

Aside from the South Korean companies, one of the biggest movers of the week was Live Nation. Ahead of the company's Nov. 12 earnings release, several analysts raised their price targets on the concert promoter's stock this week: Redburn Atlantic (to $126 from $118), Jefferies (to $132 from $113), JP Morgan (to $137 from $118) and Goldman Sachs (to $132 from $128). Since the third quarter is historically Live Nation's strongest period and the company has set all-time records in previous quarters, third-quarter results are likely to boast more all-time highs.

Spotify was one of the few stocks in the index to post weekly gains — albeit up just 0.1%. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Spotify on Wednesday to $430 from $400. Analysts see a lot of upside for Spotify. Subscription penetration worldwide (excluding China) “remains relatively low” at 15%, Goldman analysts explained in an investment note on Tuesday (Oct 22), and Spotify has room to raise prices further. In addition, they wrote, Spotify's growing audiobook business has proven that the company can generate more revenue from its subscribers than was possible when it offered only music.

Most music stocks had moderate, single-digit declines this week. Warner Music Group was down 0.1% at $32.38, Universal Music Group was down 1.9% at €23.61, Tencent Music Entertainment was down 3.2% at $11.50, Reservoir Media fell 3.4% to $8.55, iHeartMedia fell 4.80% and Entainment 4.3% to $1. and SiriusXM were down 4.4%.

LiveOne was the week's biggest loser after falling 10.6% to $0.58. Music streaming is down 38% since the Oct. 1 announcement that Tesla will no longer subsidize the LiveOne-powered streaming service in new vehicles. Radio station Cumulus Media fell 9.4% to $1.16, extending its year-to-date decline to 78.2%.