The video game industry has seen tremendous growth over the past decade. Esports, which is short for electronic sports, involves organized video game competitions. Today I want to focus on Game enthusiast (TSX:EGLX)(NASDAQ:EGLX). This company is active in the media, content, entertainment and esports industries in North America and globally. Today I want to look at how this stock has performed since the start of the year. Is it worth tearing up in the first half of June? Let’s go.

How has this game stock fared so far in 2022?

Shares of Enthusiast fell 15% in 2022 to the June 9 close. The stock fell 59% in the year-over-year period. Its shares last soared in double digits in the spring of 2021. Unfortunately, this esports stock has been steadily declining in the year since. Are there reasons for optimism halfway through 2022?

Should investors be encouraged after Enthusiast Gaming’s income?

Enthusiast Gaming released its first quarter 2022 results on May 16. It posted revenue of $47.2 million, up 57% from the previous year. The company was able to achieve this increase through better content viewership, higher RPMs on its website and video, higher subscription revenue, as well as two successful acquisitions. Additionally, gross profit jumped 127% year over year to $13.5 million. The company also recorded direct sales growth of 136% to $5.2 million.

Operationally, Enthusiast Gaming reported that its audience consumed 11.3 billion content views across web and video platforms. This is a 14% increase over the previous year. Luminosity Gaming, one of the largest esports organizations in the world, saw its total number of social media followers reach 145 million worldwide in January 2022. Enthusiast also ranked as the largest property in the Games category in the UK and Canada.

Enthusiast Gaming: Is this a buy today?

At the end of May, Enthusiast Gaming’s board of directors was targeted by an activist investor: Greywood Investments. Greywood Investments has called for a management reshuffle at the company in response to share price difficulties. The company quickly released a statement calling the letter “misleading” and “baseless.”

Investors should be eager to enter the broader esports space in 2022. Earlier this year, ResearchAndMarkets released a report on the state of the global esports market. It predicted the global esports market to reach $3.57 billion by 2027. This would represent an attractive CAGR of 21% over the forecast period.

Enthusiast Gaming shares are trading in very favorable value territory relative to its industry peers. In the meantime, it is well positioned to generate strong revenue growth in the years to come. That said, the company is still several years away from achieving profitability. The pressure on the course of its title could lead to an internal struggle after the first shots of this activist investor.

Looking to grab this exciting esports stock in the face of broader volatility.