Broadcasting Stocks

U.S. financial markets took a beating this week, with general indices falling again on Friday. What did the day look like for media stocks? Click here for details.

Discovery Communications, by all accounts, had a solid fourth quarter. It's per-share earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by five cents, while also narrowly beating Zacks' Q4 revenue projection. That couldn't stop investors from selling the MVPD-heavy company's stock.

The board of directors of Cincinnati-based television broadcaster The E.W. Scripps Company has authorized a new share repurchase program. At the same time, it declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of 2020 — two days ahead of Scripps' release of its Q4 and full-year 2019 financial results.

In a move designed to shore up investor confidence -- and take advantage of what the C-Suite likely believes is an undervalued stock -- the CEO of the company that owns 17 television stations in markets such as Phoenix, Nashville and Portland, Ore., has purchased 10,000 shares of his employer's common stock on the open market. The purchase by Tom Harty is valued at $289,000.

From Kobe and his daughter to Harvey Weinstein, there are several reasons to be somber today. Then, there is Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average slide a whopping 3.6% -- 1,031.61 points -- on fears of the coronavirus, which is now crippling Milan, Italy. Despite the financial fears, three radio broadcasting companies had positive trading sessions to start the week.

The Board of Directors of Nielsen Holdings plc has declared a quarterly cash dividend of Nielsen's common stock. The dividend is payable on March 19, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Thursday, March 5.

On January 27, Entravision Communications shares dipped below the $2 mark. Since then, the Hispanic-focused multimedia company has had difficulty getting its stock moving upward, after years of decline. On Thursday, a 2.7% dip only exacerbated matters for Los Angeles-based Entravision.

The E.W. Scripps Company will report fourth-quarter 2019 operating results on the same day that radio broadcasting company Cumulus Media will do the same.

What's the hottest media stock on Wall Street? Believe it or not, it's Beasley Broadcast Group. Shares are up by $1.17 since Dec. 18, 2019, and are presently at their best prices in 11 months. The rebound for BBGI comes as the company, which is diving into eSports, sees one of its air personalities hosting a Thursday panel in Philadelphia on how to excel at pro gaming as a career.

While Nexstar Media Group shares have dipped a smidgen since then, upward activity over the last seven days -- punctuated by a strong session on a day when shares are going ex-dividend -- shows investors are highly positive over where Nexstar stock is expected to go.

With Wednesday's Closing Bell on the NYSE, Townsquare Media finished the day with its best closing price in some 2 1/2 years. It puts the local media company in the driver's seat as it prepares to announce when it will release its Q4 and full-year 2019 financial results.

With T-Mobile now on target to complete its merger with Sprint by April 1, putting DISH in the driver's seat on becoming the nation's fourth-largest wireless services company, tower companies are likely to benefit from the rollout of 5G spurred by the companies' moves. As such, American Tower shares lifted by more than 4% on Tuesday.

The broadcast media company, which owns the Cadence 13 podcasting entity and is the parent of the Radio.com streaming app, will host a conference call two weeks from Tuesday to review the results and what it terms "recent progress against its strategic initiatives." Here's what investors expect to hear from President/CEO David Field and CFO Rich Schmaeling.

A January 2020 employment report showing 225,000 new positions created in the month -- greatly besting economic forecasts and flying in the face of widely reported layoffs at such companies as iHeartMedia -- couldn't deter a downswing for general indices on Wall Street. How did radio and TV stocks perform on Friday?

Thursday marked another gloomy trading session for Salem Media Group, which will see company representatives pitching itself to investors later this month at Noble Capital Markets’ Sixteenth Annual Institutional Investor Conference in Hollywood, Fla. SALM is trading at its lowest price since the summer of 2009.