The NFL season is almost here. These stocks could benefit — for a few days

Published Sun, Sep 3 20237:12 AM EDT

Jesse Pound @/in/jesse-pound @jesserpound

The NFL season is just around the corner, and the growing excitement might create a short-term trading opportunity in a sector that caters to football fans. The 2023 season starts on Sept. 7, with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions. The next few days could be a good short-term trading opportunity for the sports betting stocks, according to a Wednesday note from the Bank of America consumer trading desk. Over the past three years, the firm's custom index tracking the sector has risen in the five days leading up to the season's first kickoff, according to Bank of America. But in two of those years, they gave back all those gains in the 10 days after the first game. "Online Gaming stocks have a history of rallying into and on the start of NFL Season, though less so after," the note said. To be sure, legalized online sports betting is still relatively new in the U.S., so the sample size is small. There are several trade candidates to watch to see if this trend holds in 2023. The biggest pure-play online sports betting stock in the U.S. is DraftKings , with a market cap of more than $12 billion. Shares of DraftKings have been red hot this year, jumping more than 150%. DKNG YTD mountain DraftKing's stock price has more than doubled in 2023. The stock is also fairly well liked by Wall Street. According to Refinitiv, 21 of the 32 analysts covering DraftKings have a buy or strong buy rating on the stock. Other options for investors include companies that operate both online sports books and physical casinos, such as Ceasars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International . In August, Penn Entertainment made a big shake-up to its sports betting strategy, switching its branding partnership to ESPN from Barstool. There is also an ETF tracking the space, the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (BETZ) . The fund is relatively small, with just over $100 million in assets, but it does give investors exposure to sports betting stocks in overseas markets, including FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment . Shares of BETZ are up more than 20% year to date. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.