With the May 7 release of its first quarter earnings results, Gray Media indicated that it is seeing some “softness” in core advertising in Q2. Now, one prominent Wall Street financial analyst has responded by slicing his 1-year target price for “GTN.”
The downgrade came from Curry Baker, an analyst at Guggenheim, with the price target for the broadcast TV station ownership group lowered to $7 from $8. Baker maintained his “Buy” rating on “GTN,” however.
The revised target price still represents a significant gain for those who wish to acquire Gray Media shares. As of 10:35am Eastern on Friday (5/15), Gray’s NYSE-traded shares were valued at $4.1350, down slightly from Thursday’s closing price and in-line with where “GTN” has been trading for the last year.
In Baker’s view, the lowering of Gray’s price target is a response to the company’s second quarter guidance, forecasts for revenue and EBITDA, and Gray’s recent performance. Still, he believes the Gray Media C-Suite led by Hilton Howell Jr., Pat LaPlatney and Kevin Latek will be forward-thinking in sensing out growth opportunities as the FCC seeks to deregulate and weaken the local broadcast television ownership rules.
Guggenheim places its forecast for Gray’s average annual free cash flow at $232 million for the 2025-2026 time period.
The consensus 1-year target estimate for “GTN” is presently $6.70, based on the input from analysts polled by Yahoo! Finance.
