Shares closed today at $29.98 -- the first below $30 in more than a decade. That milestone came less than a week after Gannett announced new leadership from inside, suggesting GCI is hewing to its troubled, two-year-old strategic plan.Other newspaper stocks fell, too. But so far this year, Gannett's performance has been worse than even that of the New York Times Co. -- publisher of a terrific newspaper that some GCI executives try to dismiss as "elitist."
The year-to-date performance of newspaper stocks I follow, according to Google Finance:
- Belo: down 34%
- E.W. Scripps: down 6%
- Gannett: down 23%
- McClatchy: down 23%
- New York Times Co. up 4%
- News Corp.: down 10%
- Washington Post Co.: down 11%
Eight words and one date to remember: Dec. 31, 2008.
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[Data: Google Finance; image, a ticker tape machine]
Jim: It's your blog, so you can spin the way you want. In this post you seem to be saying that being "terrific" is allowing NYT to win the financial comparison. But you can read these charts any way you want. As of late January, NYT and GCI were essentially even for the year, each down 5% or so. After that, NYT spiked, as it seems Wall Street was thinking it would get a fat payday after a hedge fund increased its stake in NYT and promised a proxy fight. Oh, and then we had the news that NYT would lay off 100 newsroom staffers. Since Feb 20, the stock has slid back somewhat.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was surprised, after you ran the Gatehouse/Utica "prospering anew" item today, that you left GHS off your chart. Down 12 percent TODAY to close at $5.52. A few more days like that and you could buy the whole company with your GCI parachute.
Good points! By "terrific," I was referring to the editorial content of the NYT's flagship paper -- not the company's stock performance. And I wish I had included GateHouse in my list; that was a dumb oversight.
ReplyDeleteYear-to-date, GateHouse Media is down 37%. Compared to a year ago, GHS is down 71% -- a considerably worse performance than Gannett's 50% drop from a year ago.
ReplyDeleteGannett Blog wrote:
ReplyDeleteShares closed today at $29.98 -- the first close below $30 in more than a decade.
I got an e-mail yesterday from a longtime employee of the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind., who said half of her 401k is invested in GCI stock ... a good deal when she started buying it and it went up to $85 or so and split. But she didn't pull it out when it started down. She was hoping it would go back up. And today pretty much seals it.
"My 401k isn't worth anything anymore ..." she said. Sad.
Have you noticed that Google is down 33% this year? Companies that depend on advertising are getting killed in this market. It's probably worth noting that when you talk about the stock price.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point! Google's fall has been humbling.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of amazing, Journal Register Company can be had for 94 C e n t s a share
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 5:19, your friend at the Journal & Courier needs to get off her butt and transfer that money out of GCI stock. Every month I log in to my 401K and pull put my match money from GCI and put it somewhere it might actually grow. We aren't powerless here.
ReplyDeleteWe can't have blind faith that "it will get better". It won't...not unless Gannett decides to sell.
Feel free to follow Media General as well.
ReplyDelete