World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) walked to the ring with its second quarter results on Thursday. WWE increased revenues by 7%. Earnings per share came in at 27 cents per share as opposed to 10 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. In the first quarter of this year, WWE reported lower sales and income.

Wrestlemania XXV hulked up the quarter, it must be kept in mind. And that's great. However, don't think WWE is out of the woods yet when it comes to pay-per-view performance. For instance, both the Backlash and Judgment Day events saw decreases in buy rates. Any Wrestlemania event is a given in terms of popularity, but you really want to see every event at least maintain a flat growth rate. Remember: Wrestlemania comes only once a year, not every quarter.

Continue reading World Wrestling Entertainment increases profit and cash flow in Q2

World Wrestling Entertainment increases profit and cash flow in Q2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) definitely needs to increase the buy rates for its pay-per-view products. According to an article at Multichannel News, WWE wants to improve on the quality of its marketing and branding efforts by getting a little creative.

WWE management will utilize video-on-demand platforms to replay old content associated with branded events such as SummerSlam to enhance buy rates, as well as offering free souvenirs, depending on certain pay-per-view purchases. To me, the most interesting thing mentioned in the article by far is changing the title of an event.

Continue reading Will repackaging a WWE event increase revenues?

Will repackaging a WWE event increase revenues? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Movie-rental business Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) reported earnings for the fourth quarter yesterday. They weren't bad; while the top line only managed an increase of just under 4%, net income on an adjusted basis more than doubled to 26 cents per share. For the full fiscal year, revenue was essentially flat, and the adjusted net loss widened to 71 cents per share versus a loss of 1 cent per share in the previous fiscal year. Those numbers, it seems, aren't so good.

And neither are the stats behind the flow of the green stuff. Operational cash flow declined for the quarter and was negative for the year. Free cash flow was flat for the quarter and negative for the year. In the previous year, both cash from operations and free cash flow were positive.

What do I think of Blockbuster? Not much. It's a competitor of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), and it also competes against video-on-demand and pay-per-view services offered by cable businesses such as Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). I know Blockbuster is trying to turn itself around, attempting to cut costs, restructure, and find its way in this era of new content-distribution models, but I just don't have strong confidence in its potential for long-term growth. Heck, I haven't stepped foot in a Blockbuster in a long time. Know why? There aren't any around me, and that wasn't the case many years ago. I actually use Redbox for my rental needs these days.

Blockbuster may have beaten estimates, but that doesn't mean I'm a believer. Maybe it will indeed turn around in the future, but I'll let other investors take their chances with this low-priced equity.

Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned here.

Blockbuster beat expectations -- should you care? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) had a great weekend -- a lot better than Tom Brady et al.'s weekend, to be sure. I don't care about football, but I do care about Disney, since I am long the stock. Its Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds concert film grossed about $29 million for the three-day frame. Not too shabby.

I liked the original concept for the release of this film: get in and out, quick and dirty, with a one-week release schedule. Of course, I knew in my gut that, if successful, the run would be extended (I think everyone's gut probably told them the same thing). According to reports, the film will be allowed an extra week of play.

As a Disney shareholder, I obviously want profits maximized to the fullest extent conceivable. But, I wish Disney acted a bit edgier with this one. The company should have released it just for one weekend, taken in the dough (I presume this was a pretty low-budget affair), and then dumped the film on DVD and pay-per-view immediately on Monday. It is time to find out once and for all if near day-and-date release patterns truly can work for major projects. Remember, there's been a lot of buzz in recent years about cutting costs by simultaneously releasing movies to multiple platforms; I think this would have been a great test case for the media industry.

Should the Hannah film be extended? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.