NEW YORK — On the morning of November 9, Townsquare Media won’t be the sole owner of radio stations seeking the attention of analysts, shareholders and debt holders. The nation’s No. 1 licensee of AMs and FMs has scheduled its third quarter 2023 earnings call for a time that’s just 30 minutes after the start of the company led by CEO Bill Wilson.
In fact, the release of iHeartMedia‘s financial results for the three-month period ending September 30 will likely come just as Wilson begins his introductory remarks on Townsquare Media’s own Q3 2023 earnings call, scheduled for 8am Eastern.
Townsquare Media usually releases its financial results in the 6am ET hour. But, for iHeartMedia, it is commonplace for the report to get distribution on Business Wire no more than 30 minutes prior to the start of its calls, hosted by CEO Bob Pittman and CFO/COO Rich Bressler.
The iHeartMedia call is scheduled for 8:30am Eastern, presenting a potentially awkward situation for analysts — do they drop off of the Townsquare Media call to join iHeartMedia’s call at its start, or do they join in progress, following a traditionally lengthy overview of the company’s achievements from Pittman?
Like many radio station ownership groups, continued “headwinds” are wreaking havoc on iHeartMedia’s stock price. In July 2019, with its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, IHRT began trading on the Nasdaq at a price just under $15 per share. In June 2021, shares neared the $27 mark. Since then, it’s been a steady decline for IHRT, which finished Wednesday’s trading at $2.28, down 4.6% from Tuesday. It marks the second-lowest close since trading of IHRT commenced in 2019, with a $2.26 finish seen on May 25.
What do analysts expect to hear from Bressler and Pittman on November 9? There’s little consensus among the five analysts that track iHeartMedia. The high earnings per share estimate is $0.14. In contrast, the low earnings per share estimate is -$0.13.
Meanwhile, the revenue estimate of 6 analysts polled by Yahoo! who track iHeartMedia comes in at $936.43 million.
