Evercore ISI raised its price target on Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) to $188 from $168 while maintaining an Outperform rating, naming the company its top media pick for 2026.

The firm said its more constructive outlook was driven by expectations for accelerating consolidated adjusted operating income growth, sustained demand for live events, and improving visibility into the earnings potential of Venue Nation, Live Nation's venue development and operations business. While Live Nation's growth trajectory was well established, Evercore said investors had been hesitant to fully account for Venue Nation's contribution due to the complexity and variability of venue-level economics.

To address this, the analyst presented a bottom-up analysis of 48 venues expected to open between 2025 and 2031, incorporating assumptions around fan growth, ancillary revenue streams, ticketing rebates, sponsorship revenue, and key cost drivers. That framework supported management's targets of approximately 29 million incremental annual fans and around $600 million in incremental adjusted operating income, while also identifying several areas where current assumptions appeared conservative.

Evercore also pointed to strength across Live Nation's existing portfolio, including accelerating fan growth in Concerts, improving visibility at Ticketmaster as secondary market pressures became better understood, sponsorship growth tied to Venue Nation's expansion, and improving regulatory clarity. Together, these factors supported a forecast for adjusted operating income growth to accelerate from 10.0% in 2025 to 13.0% in 2026, 13.8% in 2027, and 14.2% in 2028, well above consensus expectations.