With Friday’s trading on the Nasdaq market concluded, Cumulus Media shares were off 7.6% from Thursday, dipping to $3.88.
While that’s slightly better than where shares were 2 1/2 weeks ago for the audio content creation and distribution company, analysts paint a bearish mid-term and long-term picture for Cumulus. That doesn’t help the company as its shares finished April at their lowest level since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
With a closing price of $3.37 on April 5, the month of April proved to be the most challenging for CMLS since May 2020 and the worst of the immediate COVID-19 fiscal impact on broadcast media stocks.
Many companies, including companies, quickly recovered, and CMLS on May 2, 2022 was priced at $15.44.
Using the April 20 closing price for Cumulus shares, investors have lost 78.2% of their dollars over the last 11-plus months.
Some 63.8% of CMLS is held by institutions, with Morgan Stanley holding 10.94% equity interest and Zazove Associates holding 6.69% equity interest.
Among the “insiders” holding shares, CEO Mary Berner holds 728,584 as of March 2.
Berner and other Cumulus Media executives including CFO Frank López-Balboa will be sharing the company’s Q1 2023 earnings results on Thursday (4/27) at 8:30am Eastern.
What can Cumulus shareholders expect? Greater inventory levels were driving automotive dealers to increase their advertising, with pacings going up in Q1. General services was up double-digits, Berner said on the company’s Q4 and year-end 2022 earnings call. López-Balboa added in his commentary that sports betting is the weakest category, with the closure of WynnBET playing a role in that decline.
Still, looking ahead to 2023, Berner commented, “We continue to face substantial economic headwinds. However, our battle-tested skill in performing during challenging times, as well as our very strong financial position, gives us substantial confidence in our ability to not only weather this depressed ad environment but take full advantage of opportunities that may arise over the coming quarters.”
