8/18/2023 0 Comments Nyse wbdThe firm’s Latin American circuit is also “catching up with domestic recovery,” Barrington Research’s Jim Goss wrote on March 7 in reaffirming his “outperform” rating on the stock. “WWE’s Raw viewership is up 9 percent year-over-year through March 13, while SmackDown is up 8 percent,” Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall wrote in a March 29 note to investors. “ SmackDown set all-time gate records in nine markets and Raw in seven as of March 6, while premium live events (formerly known as pay-per-views) have been the highest-grossing ever.” Among the potential suitors that have regularly been mentioned are the likes of Endeavor Group, Liberty Media, the Saudi Public Investment Fund and private equity groups.Ĭinema stocks, which have been impacted by investor worries amid the streaming age and the COVID pandemic, have also started off the year stronger, led by Cinemark Holdings, which beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations in February and is up 75 percent. Ahead of its biggest annual showcase WrestleMania 39, taking place at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on April 1 and 2, its shares ended up climbing 33 percent through the end of the first quarter amid recurring chatter about a deal, but also creative success that has drawn bigger audiences for its wrestling shows. In our view, the sale of Paramount’s assets could equate to more value than the public markets are ascribing to the company today.”īeyond Hollywood conglomerates, one content stock superstar for the year to date has been WWE, which has been engaged in “a review of its strategic alternatives,” including a possible sale. ![]() In a report, titled “A Shopping List of Attractive Assets,” Reif Ehrlich wrote: “Paramount has a unique collection of assets that could generate significant buyer interest if put up for sale. Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich on March 28 upgraded Paramount’s stock from “neutral” to “buy” and boosted her price target by $8 to $32 based on the sum of the value of its assets in a sale scenario. Management has said it is working on getting to streaming profitability while targeting a return to overall earnings growth in 2024. Paramount Global, which early this year reported strong streaming subscriber gains for 2022 and posted the biggest full-year film unit profit increase out of all Hollywood conglomerates, has also seen year-to-date stock gains, to the tune of 30 percent. As a result, a growing list of Wall Street analysts have turned bullish on WBD shares, with experts at Wells Fargo and Wolfe Research recently touting limited downside risk. Following cost-cutting challenges after the megamerger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia that created the conglomerate and the need to address weaker-than-expected momentum at the former AT&T media assets, CEO David Zaslav and his team are this year focusing on growth opportunities, including a march to streaming profitability and strong free cash flow creation. Discovery emerged as a Wall Street darling early this year, and the proof is in the stock, which gained 58 percent between the end of 2022 and the end of March. Beyond May’s next earnings update, he mentioned a planned deal as an upcoming catalyst: “Lionsgate is on track to split into two companies by the end of September, with the goal of setting both up with attractive balance sheets.” Separating Lionsgate’s pay TV and streaming business from its studio operations is seen as making both parts more attractive as takeover targets. “A good studio content slate and focus on Starz profitability are positive drivers,” he highlighted, also noting a workforce reduction of 10 percent. After results for the final quarter of 2022 came in stronger than Wall Street had expected, Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen boosted his stock price target by $1.50 to $10, while maintaining his “neutral” rating. Take Lionsgate, for example, whose shares jumped 100 percent year-to-date. ![]() ![]() The Paris 2024 Olympics? NBCUniversal Rolls Out a Campaign to "Save the Date" (Exclusive)
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