GCI's stock has traded as high as $18.42 today, another 52-week high, as investors look toward tomorrow morning's release of the first-quarter earnings report after a period of cost-cutting against revenue declines.Raising the worst-case scenario of more layoffs, the Associated Press says today: "Gannett seems to be bracing for further revenue erosion at its newspapers through at least the second quarter. The still-bleak outlook is the main reason GCI ordered USA Today's nearly 1,500 employees to take one week of unpaid leave between Feb. 28 and July 3. Most of USAT's workers had to take two weeks of unpaid leave last year."
Workforce down to 35K
But the company is getting a boost from its broadcasting division, which includes 23 TV stations and the high-rise elevator news network, Captivate. "Management last month predicted first-quarter ad revenue from broadcasting would rise in the mid-teens," the AP report says.
If newspaper ad revenue doesn't bounce back soon, the AP says, Gannett will be more likely to impose more staff furloughs or lay off more of its remaining 35,000 workers (down from 46,100 employees three years ago). U.S. newspaper division President Bob Dickey last month ruled out further division-wide layoffs, however, leaving open the possibility of job cuts on a property-by-property basis.
Wall Street media stock analysts expect earnings tomorrow of 41 cents per share on revenue of $1.32 billion. That would be up from $77.4 million, or 25 cents per share before special items, on revenue of $1.38 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Gannett will release the earnings report before stock markets open at 9:30 a.m. ET. It will then host a conference call with analysts at 10 a.m. That call is open to the public, and will be webcast in listen-only mode on Corporate's website. Details here.
Related: Gannett's first-quarter 2009 earnings report
[Image: today's paper, Newseum]
I see the stock going to 20.50 tomorrow for a high. Then ending the day at high 19's
ReplyDeleteI can't make heads or tails out of the stock market move. We are told repeatedly by Internet gurus that we are dead and yesterday's news, yet the stock increases. I don't think tomorrow's report is going to change that, as this downbeat AP story suggests. After 20 years in this business and expecting to stay on to retirement, what do I and others like me do. Pull a Saridakis?
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ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard if management will release the commission only sales restructure to analysts tomorrow?
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