The U.S.-listed shares of Manchester United Ltd. fell 0.4% in afternoon trading Thursday, after the English Premier League football club issued a statement saying forward Christiano Ronaldo will not be part of the squad for the next game on the weekend. The statement comes after the player was seen leaving the field before Wednesday’s game was over even though additional substitutions were still available. Ronaldo was celebrated ahead of last weekend’s game for scoring a record 700th club goal on Oct. 9. Despite the drama created by Ronaldo’s early exit, Jefferies analyst Randal Konik said after a visit Wednesday to “action-packed” Old Trafford, which is Man Utd’s home stadium, in which he saw a win and met with a number of executives, that he urges long-term investors to buy the stock as the team is expected to continue to perform well and as the club’s brand grows. “What’s clear to us is Football is unlike any other sport in the world, [Man Utd’s] ~1 billion followers globally show unmatched reach, leadership is focused, and [Man Utd] shares are disconnected from fair value,” Konik wrote in a note to clients. The stock has rallied 13.3% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has lost 7.5%.
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