Atlanta Braves Holdings is one of only two publicly traded plays on U.S. professional sports, and the company's stock looks inexpensive, even after a 25% gain this year.

The company owns the Atlanta Braves, a premier Major League Baseball franchise, and a real estate development around the team's home field. The other public U.S. sports team company is Madison Square Garden Sports, owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers.

The Braves nonvoting shares trade around $50, valuing the company at $3.3 billion.

That's a discount to the recent sale of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team at a $4 billion valuation, and a similar price earlier this year for the San Diego Padres.

What could the Braves be worth? Sports teams are the ultimate trophy for billionaire owners, and they are valued on a multiple of revenue rather than their often meager earnings. The Angels were sold at an estimated 10 times annual revenue of about $400 million.

Put an Angels revenue multiple on the larger Braves baseball sales of about $650 million annually and the team could be worth $6.5 billion, according to Gabelli Funds senior portfolio manager Chris Marangi, whose firm is the largest investor in the company.

Add to that the value of the Braves's real estate of about $1.25 billion (based on a management estimate last year), and subtract net debt of nearly $700 million, and the stock could be worth over $100 a share.

"The Braves stock is trading at a pretty steep discount to the value of the team," says Jon Boyar, president of Boyar Intrinsic Value Research. "I would be surprised if the company is still public five years from now."

The Braves lack the cachet of the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers, but they are consistent winners with a history of high attendance, and savvy management both on the baseball and real estate sides of the business.

So, why do the Braves trade cheaply relative to the company's estimated value?

There are several reasons. The company, like most baseball teams, earns little, netting about $50 million last year.

Baseball faces a threat of an owners' lockout later this year that could mean no season in 2027, as owners fight the player's union for a salary cap like those in pro football, basketball, and hockey.

Baseball's national TV contract is much smaller than that of football and basketball. Braves CEO Terence McGuirk sees an opportunity when the current contract ends in 2029. "There is a lot of untapped growth in the popularity of baseball, and we're looking to achieve that growth when we get to that deal," he said in August.

Baseball-team valuations haven't appreciated as much as those of other sports teams in recent years due in part to a less lucrative TV deal. They are the value stocks of the sports world.

Then there is the uncertainty about if-or when-the Braves get sold.

That hinges on John Malone. The media and cable TV mogul controls the Braves through supervoting shares that turn a 7% economic interest into 50% voting control.

Malone owns nearly all of nearly one million B shares, with 10 votes each, plus a chunk of the A stock, which carries one vote per share. The nonvoting K shares look like a better value than the A stock that trades around $55, given the $5 a share discount on the K shares.

Malone, 85, is viewed as shareholder friendly and has said that the "store is always open," meaning he is open to selling any part of his empire at the right price. That approach differs from MSG Sports, where CEO James Dolan has ruled out a sale of either the Knicks or Rangers.

Malone, however, seems to be in no hurry to unload the company. He's pleased with the Braves' management and direction. He told CNBC in November that he is patient, saying that if Braves CEO McGuirk "tells me that baseball is going to be fabulous in another few years, I can say, 'You have got the time.' "

Malone might be waiting for a potentially favorable resolution of baseball's negotiations with the players union before considering a sale of the company.

There also could be tax issues. Malone is famously tax averse, and a sale of the Braves probably would go to a billionaire or investor group paying cash. That likely would trigger a tax hit to Malone given a low cost basis in a team he has controlled for 20 years.

Tax expert Robert Willens says Malone heirs might benefit from leaving his almost $300 million stake unsold so they can get a step-up basis in his estate and avoid capital-gains taxes in the future.

One reason to sell the Braves is that the company will be subject to an unfavorable accounting rule starting next year that won't allow the company to deduct the cost of its five highest-paid employees-likely players-from their taxes.

Braves executive Mike Plant sounded optimistic on the August call, saying the team is "very confident" there will be a legislative or regulatory solution to the tax problem.

The Braves are a one-of-a-kind asset that offers a margin of safety and a cheap way for investors to get exposure to baseball and the rising value of sports teams.