It’s a pure-play radio broadcasting company that focuses its efforts on stations serving audiences in small and mid-sized markets, with TV station ownership now in its past. It has no investments in ancillary industries designed to build out diverse revenue streams, nor does it have expense-laden initiatives associated with podcasting or a streaming app.
Guess what? Saga Communications is again one of the strongest-performing publicly traded radio companies in the U.S. Today under the leadership of CEO Chris Forgy, Saga has produced Q3 results that saw revenue beat forecasts. The EPS will make key shareholders such as Daniel Tisch likely smile, too.
In Q3, Saga’s revenue came in at $29.15 million. Yes, that’s down from $29.98 million, but in a non-political year that’s perhaps reason to cheer.
One analyst presently covers Saga, and the revenue estimate came in at $28.9 million, making it a beat for Saga.
Meanwhile, station operating expenses only moderately increased, moving to $22.76 million from $22.3 million.
A big dip in year-over-year corporate general and administrative expenses was the clincher, though, helping Saga achieve operating income in Q3 of $3.49 million, jumping from $1.055 million.
As such, Saga swung from a net loss of $104,000 (-$0.01) in Q3 2022 to net income of $2.73 million ($0.45). That narrowly missed the $0.47 EPS estimate offered by the analyst who covers Saga, according to Yahoo! Finance. But, given the earnings reports from Saga’s peers that have already surfaced, lead equity interest holder Towerview LLC, led by Tisch, should be nevertheless pleased with the results.
That said, a closer look at one line-item financial figure is particularly noteworthy: Saga has no long-term debt to report.
Ahead of an 11am Eastern earnings call for institutional investors and shareholders hosted by Forgy and CFO Sam Bush, Saga reiterated that it will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on Friday (11/3) to shareholders of record as of October 11.
On the call, Forgy shared some highlights regarding Saga’s Q3 and year-to-date performance.
In particular, National is up 1% in the quarter and year-to-date is up 6.9%.
Considering the National challenges with its peers in the Radio space, that achievement may be unmatched in Q3.
Then, there’s Digital, up 34% and continuing to grow. Nontraditional revenue was up 7.7% in the quarter, Forgy added.
By category, No. 1 is Home Improvement. But, Automotive is “surging,” and is now No. 2 ahead of Professional Services, which is comprised of such businesses as weight loss, plastic surgery and cosmetic denistry.
