“Our second quarter results reflect the great work that continues to be done by our employees in advance of our pending transaction with Nexstar Media Group,” Peter Kern, Tribune Media’s CEO, said in revealing the company’s perhaps final Q2 report card.
How did Tribune Media perform in the quarter ending June 30, 2019?
The company’s EPS beat Street estimates, but its revenue fell a tad short of expectations.
Worse yet, a key division of Tribune saw a revenue dip.
For the Television and Entertainment segment, revenue slipped to $482.6 million, from $486.4 million.
The decrease was driven by a $17.6 million dip in political advertising revenues and a $6.4 million decline in “other revenues.”
In a sign of the times, this was partially offset by a $15.2 million increase (13%) in retransmission revenues. By comparison, core advertising revenue climbed by just 1%, to $2.2 million. A $2.9 million (17%) increase in digital advertising revenue was seen for the Scripps TV and Entertainment division in Q2.
Overall operating revenue moved to $484 million from $489.36 million. A Benzinga consensus estimate of $484.92 was anticipated; the FactSet consensus of $484.3 million was also missed.
Net income declined to $63.66 million (71 cents per diluted share) from $84.44 million (96 cents).
On an adjusted basis, EPS came in at 79 cents, declining from 99 cents. This beat the Benzinga analyst consensus estimate of 73 cents and the FactSet consensus of 71 cents.
At the Closing Bell on Friday, Tribune shares were off 1 cent to $46.58.
