Yahoo Finance Media Stock Earnings Lineup for Oct 31: WWE, AMCX, IMAX, SIRI
Media companies are witnessing a mixed earnings season. Streaming giant Netflix NFLX missed its U.S. subscriber addition target in the third quarter primarily due to the price hike announced in January.
Meanwhile, legacy media giants like Comcast CMCSA and Charter Communications CHTR continued to lose voice, video and Pay TV subscribers due to persistent cord-cutting and stiff competition from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Amazon Prime.
Moreover, increasing programming costs and retransmission fees have been dragging down the profitability of industry participants.
However, these factors were somewhat negated by increasing demand for high-speed Internet service. Also, increasing investments in original content and focus on providing quality entertainment helped media companies generate favorable results.
For instance, Comcast lost 224K video customers and 65K voice customers in the third quarter of 2019. Nevertheless, the cable giant added 379K high-speed Internet customers.
Moreover, Charter lost 75K video customers in the third quarter. However, residential and SMB Internet net additions were 380K in the reported quarter.
Sneak Peek on Few Upcoming Releases
Let us take a look at four media companies set to report on Oct 31.
Stamford, CT-based World Wrestling Entertainment’s WWE subscriber base is expected to have declined in the third quarter. Moreover, the company is witnessing softness in adjusted OIBDA for a while now, a trend that most likely continued in the to-be-reported quarter.
Moreover, the company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which makes surprise prediction difficult. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1, 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) along with a positive Earnings ESP has a good chance of beating estimates. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for loss stayed at 1 cent for the past 30 days. The company reported earnings of 35 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Notably, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, delivering average positive surprise of 30.21%. (Read More: Factors to Know Ahead of World Wrestling’s Q3 Earnings)
New York-based AMC Networks’ AMCX third-quarter 2019 results are expected to reflect the negative impact of persistent cord-cutting and stiff competition from streaming services.
Nevertheless, the company’s robust content portfolio and increased pricing across its networks (BBC America, IFC, Sundance and WE TV) are expected to have benefited the top line.
However, AMC Networks carries a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, which makes surprise difficult.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings stayed at $1.68 over the past 30 days, implying a 21.9% decline from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Notably, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average positive surprise being 19.4%.
Mississauga, ON-based, IMAX Corporation IMAX has an Earnings ESP of +3.11% but a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), which makes surprise prediction difficult.
The company’s top line is expected to have benefited from Chinese language releases like Ne Zha in the third quarter of 2019. Notably, IMAX China collected box office gross of RMB250 million in August from IMAX theaters across Greater China.
The consensus mark for earnings has declined by a couple of cents to 19 cents over the past 30 days, indicating 35.7% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Notably, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average positive surprise being 13.9%.
New York-based, Sirius XM Holdings SIRI has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #4, which makes surprise prediction difficult.
The company’s third-quarter 2019 results are expected to reflect subscriber base growth and higher ARPU aided by a strong content portfolio. The company’s strategy to tap users outside the automobile market with a streaming-only package is likely to have aided revenues in the to-be-reported quarter.
Moreover, the consensus mark for earnings stayed at 6 cents over the past 30 days, implying 14.3% decline from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Notably, the company’s earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in one of the trailing four quarters, the average negative surprise being 0.8%.
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Click to get this free report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Networks Inc. (AMCX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) : Free Stock Analysis Report IMAX Corporation (IMAX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
