Cumulus Shares Erase All Post-Valentine’s Gains

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In late March, Cumulus Media shares appeared to be well on their way toward achieving a 1-year target estimate of $22.67.


Instead, CMLS sputtered ahead of a month-long decline that on Thursday saw the company’s stock dip to prices last seen on February 14.

With the Closing Bell on July 25, Cumulus now has a stock valued at $15.31, dipping 87 cents from Wednesday.

Volume was 127,483 shares; average volume for Cumulus is 104,755 shares.

The decline in share values comes as the company seeks to further deleverage by taking all of the proceeds from the sale of longtime Rock station KLOS-FM in Los Angeles to Meruelo Media and making a $50 million voluntary debt prepayment, a move that Cumulus says “continues its commitment to reducing leverage.”

KLOS was sold for $43 million; some $7 million in additional cash on hand was contributed to the prepayment.

With the prepayment, Cumulus has reduced its debt by approximately $250 million since emerging from debtor-in-possession status on June 4, 2018, bringing the company’s total debt down to approximately $1.05 billion. By comparison, Entercom‘s long-term debt at the end of Q1 totaled $1.69 billion; $1.4 billion in assumed debt is attributable to its tax-free merger with CBS Radio.

At the same time, Cumulus in mid-June priced $500 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.750% senior secured first-lien notes due 2026, an increase of $200 million from its initial plan.

Net proceeds of the offering were used to “partially” repay Cumulus’ indebtedness under its senior secured term loan facility.