Warner Brothers, Time Warner's (TWX) movie entertainment arm, is going to launch part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in 3D during 2011. We take this opportunity to estimate the value of such movies from Time Warner's perspective. Time Warner competes with Viacom (VIA), News Corp. (NWS), CBS (CBS) and Disney (DIS) in the media and entertainment business.

Our price estimate for Time Warner's stock stands at $35.51, in line with market price.

Continue reading What the Final Harry Potter Film Means to Time Warner

What the Final Harry Potter Film Means to Time Warner originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner (TWX) probably thought it had the weekend all wrapped up. Sucker Punch looked like it would debut at the top in its opening frame. I don't blame the execs behind this fantasy piece; in theory, it should have brought in all the youthful demographics hungry for a big spring hit to feast upon.

Didn't happen. Instead, News Corp.'s (NWS) Diary of Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was number one with a gross of well over $23 million, according to domestic-theater data at Box Office Mojo. Punch came in second with $19 million.

Continue reading Time Warner's 'Sucker Punch' Loses to News Corp's 'Wimpy Kid'

Time Warner's 'Sucker Punch' Loses to News Corp's 'Wimpy Kid' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CBS Corporation (CBS) issued its fourth-quarter report after the bell today. The results should make shareholders happy. Adjusted net income rose an incredible 77% to 46 cents per share, according to the press release. That number went beyond the estimate by two pennies as indicated by TheFly.

Considering how the stock has fared over the past twelve months, one would have expected a good earnings report. The 52-week low for the shares is $12.26 while the 52-week high is $22.25. The chart communicates a company backed by some solid momentum.

Continue reading CBS Tops Estimate in Q4: Buy the Stock?

CBS Tops Estimate in Q4: Buy the Stock? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

News Corp. (NWS) issued its fiscal second-quarter report on Wednesday after the bell. The stock rose 2.5% to $17.51 on active volume by the end of the regular session. The reaction in the after-hours session was, to be honest, dreadfully boring. The shares finished up fractionally to $17.55 at the conclusion of that trading period. Guess the market wasn't too impressed by the earnings news; either that, or it figured that the rise before the posting of the numbers was good enough.

According to the corporate press release, adjusted net income calculated out to 29 cents per share in Q2. That was four pennies above the year-ago profit. Marketwatch says that the 29-cent figure was one penny ahead of the overall estimate.

Continue reading News Corp. Earnings: Growth in Adjusted Q2 Profit

News Corp. Earnings: Growth in Adjusted Q2 Profit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading MySpace Cuts Workforce by 47%

MySpace Cuts Workforce by 47% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to an item highlighted by TheFly, it appears as if News Corp. (NWS) may be interested in selling MySpace. There are no guarantees, of course, but I'll tell you this: I hope a sale happens. And the sooner the better.

Sure, in theory, MySpace was a great acquisition. It was the hot destination on the web for a while. Reality, however, has a way of interfering with even the best ideas. The Internet can evolve very quickly; CEOs need to be extremely cautious about what they decide to buy when they are playing this part of the media game.

Continue reading Will News Corp. Make the Right Decision Concerning MySpace?

Will News Corp. Make the Right Decision Concerning MySpace? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Disney Set to Report Q4 Earnings

Disney Set to Report Q4 Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CBS (CBS) reported third-quarter earnings last Thursday after the bell. On Friday, the shares closed down 3.7% to $17.01. The 52-week high for the stock is $18.20. Although the one-year chart doesn't show a smooth uptrend, it does indicate that the shares have exhibited a certain amount of strength. But does the sell-off on Friday, which was backed by strong volume, tell us that the stock should be avoided?

I've been cautious about this company. I have to admit, though, that it delivered a decent Q3. The press release says that adjusted profit jumped 40% to 35 cents per share. According to the Associated Press, that figure beat projections by four pennies. The AP article also mentioned something not so surprising: advertising dedicated to political races helped the period.

Continue reading CBS: Buy or Sell After Q3?

CBS: Buy or Sell After Q3? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading News Corp. Reports Q1 Earnings

News Corp. Reports Q1 Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Apple Does Not Need $50 Billion

Chasing Value: Apple Does Not Need $50 Billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last weekend's box-office race went to News Corp. (NWS). The media conglomerate released the sequel to Wall Street. The project, entitled Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, stars Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf. When you think of the iconic equity the original possesses, and combine it with the current financial zeitgeist (maybe I should have written current negative financial zeitgeist, considering the state we're in), you might have expected a huge hit.

I did. And I was wrong. Sure, according to Box Office Mojo, the second Wall Street captured the top spot. But take a look at the actual domestic gross for the three-day debut: $19 million. Does that sound like a blockbuster? Even in the more sedate September period, I had higher hopes for a more exciting debut.

Continue reading News Corp.'s 'Wall Street' Sequel: Should It Have Done Better?

News Corp.'s 'Wall Street' Sequel: Should It Have Done Better? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Media companies like Disney (DIS), News Corp. (NWS), and Time Warner (TWX) are dependent on a healthy celluloid industry. As times have changed, the industry has become more challenging. Home video, for example, is mired in a complex conundrum: how does one grow physical media revenue in the digital age? How does video-on-demand fit into the picture? What about online downloads? When you think about it, theatrical exhibition is becoming more important than ever before as post-multiplex channels of distribution undergo radical changes to keep up with the times.

Unfortunately, the following article from the Associated Press indicates that there's a lot of marketing work to be done in Hollywood. You see, while summer box-office sales are up, the quantity of admission transactions has declined.

Continue reading Movie Business in Need of Attendance

Movie Business in Need of Attendance originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Distribution of content fascinates me. So does compensation for the talent that generates the content. In my mind, talent is extremely overcompensated via pricey salaries and overgenerous profit-participation schemes. The demands of talent constitute a friction working against the goal of increasing shareholder value in the media industry. Time and time again, we see evidence of the thesis.

These were my thoughts as I checked out Steve Levitan's comments on streaming practices at ABC.com and Hulu that were made in an interview at The Hollywood Reporter. Levitan is one of the creators of the excellent Modern Family series. That really is a quality show, and I'm glad ABC possesses it in its programming portfolio. I'm a shareholder of Disney (DIS), as you might have guessed.

Continue reading Steve Levitan and Hulu: Media Shareholders Should Pay Attention

Steve Levitan and Hulu: Media Shareholders Should Pay Attention originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Lionsgate Beats Competition Again with 'Expendables'

Lionsgate Beats Competition Again with 'Expendables' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I've been thinking about the whole Jersey Shore zeitgeist. You know the show. It's on Viacom's (VIA) MTV. It's a huge hit, everyone is talking about it and its stars (Snooki, The Situation, etc.). It also was mentioned in a recent conference call the media company had with investors.

It was reported that the cast was able to significantly increase its salary for the reality series. When I first heard about the demands, I mused to myself that this was a grand opportunity for Hollywood to say no to minor celebrities. After all, it's just a reality show, folks. Even though Snooki is immensely popular, there are many more Snooki-type individuals out there. Dime-a-dozen comes to mind when thinking of the goofy girl with the poofy coif.

Continue reading If Snooki Can Beat Viacom, Is the Hollywood Business Model in Trouble?

If Snooki Can Beat Viacom, Is the Hollywood Business Model in Trouble? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading News Corp. Reports a Strong Quarter, but Should You Buy the Stock?

News Corp. Reports a Strong Quarter, but Should You Buy the Stock? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Inc. (TWX), a media company which competes with The Walt Disney Corporation (DIS) and News Corp. (NWS), among others, has traded in a narrow range over the last twelve months. The 52-week low is $26.43; the 52-week high is $34.07. Shares finished Wednesday's session at a price of $32.47.

Management released Q2 numbers earlier in the day. According to the AP, adjusted profit was 50 cents per share, five pennies better than expectations. Sounds good, but there wasn't much action in the stock. That $32.47 closing price I just referred to represents a flat percentage gain.

Continue reading Time Warner: Stay on the Sidelines After Q2?

Time Warner: Stay on the Sidelines After Q2? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Have you been thinking about buying CBS (CBS)? It's not too far away from its 52-week high. At the end of Tuesday's regular session, the stock, whose colleagues include Disney (DIS), General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal, and News Corp. (NWS), settled out at a price of $15.01; the high for the year is $16.98. The one-year chart tells an interesting story: The trend over the last twelve months has been up, but lately, there's been a healthy amount of sideways action, which, of course, might not be healthy for growth investors.

Then again, for longer-term investors, at least the shares have been holding up, right? And now we come to the second-quarter report, released Tuesday after the bell. What does it tell us about the situation?

Continue reading CBS: Should You Take a Look After Second-Quarter Earnings?

CBS: Should You Take a Look After Second-Quarter Earnings? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Coca-Cola (KO) to overweight from neutral due to valuation and expectations that developed market volume should improve. The firm raised its target price for shares to $66.
• BB&T upgraded Nordson (NDSN) to buy from hold and has an $82 price target on the stock. The firm believes certain drivers of Nordson's Advanced Tech unit are becoming more secular vs. cyclical and that the company's EBIT margins can go higher.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to outperform from underperform, citing the positive announcements from the Famborough Air Show. The firm raised its price target to $37 from $21.
• Universal Health (UHS) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Mead Johnson (MJN) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Coventry Health (CVH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ALU, CHL, EXC, GENZ, KO, NDSN, NSW, SJM, TXN ...

Analyst Calls: ALU, CHL, EXC, GENZ, KO, NDSN, NSW, SJM, TXN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

News Corp. (NWS) and MySpace. They've been together for a while. And I have a question: Should they still be together? Is there any reason for the social networking business to be in Rupert Murdoch's empire? Personally, I don't see a rationale for keeping MySpace in the fold.

Of course, I'm sure Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller has a different opinion. In fact, in the following Reuters article, he denies rumors concerning a desire on the part of News Corp. to sell the asset. Too bad, because I think it should be sold. Seriously, my sympathies go out to anyone in charge of bringing MySpace back to relevancy.

Continue reading News Corp. Should Get Rid of MySpace

News Corp. Should Get Rid of MySpace originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.