What happened
Shares of sports-centric streaming-TV company fuboTV (FUBO 2.35%) fell 37.3% in March, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company reported positive financial results early in the month. However, it then had two big drops for unrelated reasons.
So what
Investors could initially celebrate fuboTV's strong finish to 2020, in which it reached nearly 550,000 subscribers. However, investors bid fuboTV stock up in 2020, optimistic about the company's plans to monetize its user base by offering sports betting directly on its platform. So, much of its stock price reflected that optimism.
But on March 3, sports-wagering platform DraftKings signed a deal with DISH Network, spooking fuboTV investors. Basically, investors see increasing competition in the space and wonder whether fuboTV has an edge.
Later in March, fuboTV stock sold off because of an odd situation with a hedge fund. According to IPO Edge, Archegos Capital was a heavily leveraged hedge fund that received a default notice from lenders. Ultimately, the lenders forced the hedge fund to liquidate positions, offering them to the market in enormous blocks all at once. FuboTV stock was supposedly among the stocks Archegos Capital was forced to liquidate.
By offering shares in a huge block like this, the market was essentially flooded with supply of fuboTV shares and not enough demand to meet it. For that reason, the stock fell hard late in the month.
Now what
It's been a wild ride for fuboTV shareholders to say the least. From early October to late December, the stock was up almost 600%. Now it's down roughly 65% from December highs. March merely added to the recent pain. On the one hand, volatility is normal with the stock market. On the other hand, fuboTV is an extreme example of short-term volatility.
While I can't predict what will happen with fuboTV's stock price in the coming weeks, I can say that good long-term investments need to have businesses that are performing well. FuboTV shareholders get their next opportunity to see how the business is doing when it reports results for the first quarter of 2021 on May 11.