Broadcasting Stocks

Among the media companies that have struggled of late on Wall Street, Salem Media Group is perhaps one of the more notable operators. On Thursday, the owner of conservative talk and Christian-themed radio stations saw its shares drop to a level that brings its perilously close to a new five-year low.

In mid-August 2017, before a remarkable surge and slide of Veritone Inc. shares seen across the following six weeks, the AI recognition company's stock was hovering in the low-$8 range. Veritone stock soared to $65.91 by the end of September, only to wither by early November 2017 -- the last time VERI saw a close above $30. Now, Veritone is heading in the wrong direction on Wall Street.

Don't look now, but Spanish Broadcasting System shares are back to where they were in early December 2017. That's not good news, with shares now below 15 cents in value. On Tuesday, a 39% decline in value raised eyebrows.

The fourth quarter of 2018 is only two days old, and it is already proving to be a bruising one for Veritone Inc. Meanwhile, Salem Media Group shares swooned and are now at their lowest levels since early May.

The company behind an AI-powered media attribution application that tracks the efficacy of advertising in broadcast radio and TV returned from the 2018 Radio Show in Orlando to a rocky Q4 start on Wall Street. Shares began to tumble southward after 1pm Eastern. This led to a 8.4% dip in Veritone Inc. stock -- and perilously close to its all-time low.

The third quarter of 2018 is officially over Sunday, but most businesses are tallying up their final numbers this afternoon. For Nexstar Media Group, Q3 is one for the record books — at least if one were to look solely at its performance on Nasdaq.

Fresh off of co-CEO Dhruv Prasad's appearance at Pillsbury's Broadcast Finance 2018 breakfast as part of the Radio Show in Orlando, the Townsquare Media executive will be jetting off to the Valley of the Sun to present at a conference focused on leveraged finance.

The post-Les Moonves era at CBS Corporation entered another new chapter on Wednesday, as Dick Parsons — the former head of Time Warner — has been named Interim Chairman of the company's Board of Directors.

That's the question asked by Simply Wall St. writer Autumn Haas, who offers her view on what The E.W. Scripps Co. represents for investors looking to perhaps buy -- or sell -- shares in the company.

Investor sentiment was largely positive in response to Sirius XM's pre-market opening announcement that it was purchasing Pandora Media one year after making a sizable investment in the streaming audio company. For shareholders, the mood was largely negative: SiriusXM shares slid by more than 10% in Monday's trading on incredibly high volume of more than 111 million shares.

Where should Beasley Broadcast Group shares be? On July 16, Beasley Broadcast Group shares sat at $10.60. At the Closing Bell on Friday, a 5.1% decline from Thursday's close was seen, lowering BBGI to $6.55.

U.S. financial markets were mixed on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61% to 26,405.76. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.08%, ending the day’s trading session at 7,950.04.

On June 10, Gray Television shares were languishing just below the $11 level -- their lowest prices since December 2016. It was a small setback for the broadcast TV company: In July and November 2015, Gray shares were approaching $17 a share. Today, Gray stock is flying high.

Every investor in Emmis should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups, notes Blake Harford of Simply Wall St. Insiders, he notes, often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. "I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little," Harford notes. So, what's Emmis' story?

Now free of its radio stations, The E.W. Scripps Co. is showing new might on Wall Street as a TV-focused company. Its share price has been on a steady climb since April 30, bringing SSP to levels last seen in late January. That said, Scripps is still far behind where it was 18 months ago.