Neutral (Downgrade Alert) Comcast shareholders were surprised earlier this week with the announcement that they were making an offer to purchase British satellite broadcaster Sky, besting an offer from 21st Century Fox for the 61% it…
Overweight The S&P advertising index has finally caught a bid as Q4 earnings came in better than expected, driven by solid improvements in organic revenue growth. This is supported by industry pricing power which is in the midst of…
Neutral Yesterday's news that Disney was buying key media content assets from Twenty-First Century Fox, including movie studios and some cable properties, came as a surprise to few following longstanding rumors the assets were for…
Neutral Cable & satellite stocks received a much-needed boost last week when it was announced that the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission planned to scrap the landmark 2015 rules to guarantee net neutrality. Such a…
The shares of movie & entertainment firms have been under pressure in the last several weeks, despite what has generally been a positive Q3 earnings print, driven down by speculation the AT&T/Time Warner merger may be blocked by…
Demand for movies and entertainment has come under pressure lately as depicted by the deceleration in recreation PCE. The softness in the ISM services survey confirms the negative signal from the consumer. All of this is transpiring in…
Cable & satellite stocks have been on a tear since troughing at the onset of the Great Recession (top panel). However, on the industry operating front, there are some demand cracks forming. Cable outlays are trailing overall PCE and…
Highlights Portfolio Strategy A more balanced cable & satellite and movies & entertainment industry profit backdrop is signaling that only a neutral stance is warranted in both these media sub-indexes. Trim to neutral. These…
The S&P advertising index broke down after a tough Q2 earnings season that saw caution, particularly from consumer goods clients holding back advertising budgets. However, management teams maintained their full-year guidance with…
Overweight The cable & satellite index heavyweights Comcast and Charter Communications both reported their results last week, announcing that they had churned 34,000 and 90,000 of the traditional video customers, respectively.…