Thursday, June 21, 2012

Reminder: Corporate heads for Wall Street today; current-quarter earnings outlook likely on agenda

With earnings forecast to fall again, CEO Gracia Martore will lead Corporate's presentation to Wall Street analysts on current initiatives and the financial outlook during a conference sponsored by the Media and Entertainment Analysts of New York.

Martore
The session is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. ET, and will be webcast from Corporate's website. Details, here. (I expect to cover the event live.)

Analysts on average are expecting current quarter earnings will fall nearly 9% from a year ago: to 53 cents a share from 58 cents, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. Among nine analysts, the estimates range from a low of 47 cents to a high of 61 cents.

Typically at meetings such as today's, Corporate will bring greater focus to those figures -- for example, telling Wall Street it expects earnings to be at the higher or lower ends of the current range.

Caution, day traders
Corporate occasionally makes surprise announcements at these events, and that can unexpectedly drive GCI's stock. Overall, however, immediate results have been uneven at best and often worse. In a recent analysis of 14 of these presentations to analysts since 2007, I found that on average GCI fell nearly 1% when trading ended on the day of the event.

So, day traders beware.

Today's presentation comes as GCI's shares struggle to gain forward momentum. Since Corporate reported first-quarter financial results on April 16, GCI's stock has fallen 4.5% through yesterday's close at $13.05 a share. That puts it roughly in the middle of the pack of newspaper publishing share performance.

The New York Times Co.'s stock did the best during the period, rising 12.1% to $6.95 a share. McClatchy did the worst: falling 20% to $2.21.

The S&P 500 index, a widely watched and broader measure of the overall market, fell about 1%. This spreadsheet shows company-by-company results.

My figures are adjusted to reflect dividends.

6 comments:

  1. Wall Street will not be wowed. Except for Usa Today's new Purpose Wall.

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  2. More lies and hollow promises. wall street wont perk up until they hear cost containment/reduction and a serious uptick in ads. So look for hints on the former and more excuses on the latter.

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  3. Another quarterly earnings drop. Get ready for another round of furloughs and pay freezes.

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  4. Liar liar panties on fire.

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  5. Martore needs some new schtick. But we were so glad we didnt have to listen to Banikarim and Hunke spew.

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  6. Just once, I would like her to treat her employees with the same albomb and professionalism she displays outside Gannett. not cheerleader memos. No purpose walls. No cliched speeches. Just tell us the business plan doesnt call for more layoffs and furloughs for a period of time. Even if it is just through the end of the year. Tell us we will never have to reapply for our jobs.

    The goodwill you wpuld earn frim these simple steps would be amazing. People want to do good work. Most of us are willing to do what it takes to turn this company around. Give is a reason to do so beyond the business plan you present to Wall Street. We are not cost items on a balance sheet. We're people.

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