Monday, April 22, 2013

Reminder: Q1 financial report set for tomorrow

Corporate reports first-quarter financials about 8:30 ET Tuesday morning, followed by a 10 a.m. teleconference to discuss the results with Wall Street analysts. That conference is open to the public in listen-only mode; details here.

Analysts on average are forecasting earnings of 35 cents per share vs. 34 cents a year ago. They expect revenue of $1.24 billion vs. $1.22 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

In the report and the teleconference, expect more good news on circulation revenue increases after the substantial subscription rate hikes imposed with the paywall launches across the U.S. newspaper division. As well, CEO Gracia Martore should provide more details on gains in Digital Marketing Services revenue as Gannett pushes harder to sell web development and social media services to advertisers and other customers.

However, results in the broadcasting division won't be anywhere near as strong as in the preceding fourth quarter, when they were boosted by final campaign-related spending on the 23 TV stations for the general election. The absence of political spending and, after last summer, Olympics-related advertising will create increasingly bad "comps" the rest of the year -- and especially in the third quarter.

Perhaps anticipating a good report, investors bid up GCI stock today. Shares closed at $21.03, up 62 cents, or 3%. That compares with a 52-week low and high of $12.17 and $22.20, respectively.

Note: Unfortunately, I won't be able to listen to the teleconference because I'm going to be mostly offline most of the day.

Related: Here's the fourth-quarter conference call with analysts, and the fourth-quarter report.

19 comments:

  1. Gannett Co., Inc. Reports 57% Increase in First Quarter Earnings per Diluted Share to $0.44

    Revenue Grew to $1.24 Billion Driving Non-GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share up 9% to $0.37

    Highlights for the quarter include the following year-over-year comparisons:

    • Local domestic circulation revenue up 14 percent; fourth consecutive quarter of growth
    • Broadcasting revenue accelerates 9 percent
    • Company-wide digital revenue growth of 29 percent
    • 35 percent increase in Digital segment operating cash flow; 14 percent increase in Broadcasting operating cash flow

    http://www.gannett.com/assets/pdf/5Z204243423.PDF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wall street doesn't like the numbers and is doubting Martore plan. Gannett has been callous in layoffs of good long time employees at it's local papers.

      Delete
  2. Stunningly good results, well ahead of the market expectation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, great results. It's Q2 and Q3 where the rubber will meet the road though. It's a long year, so let's see where they end up by the end of September.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea but..........

      The ahters never give up. They really hope for failure. Can you imagine, you come to work everyday and the person next to you is hoping yoru company will fail and YOU will lose your job!!!! Please find another job.....please get out of my company

      Delete
  4. 8:54 says that every quarter. Last time, it was, "Well, after the election revenue in Q4, we'll see how they do in Q1 — that's the one that really matters." Stop crossing your fingers for this company to fail.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then why the layoffs and buyouts?

      Delete
  5. These results show that the company is ahead of schedule and bode well for the future. Great news for those of us still lucky to be in work.

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  6. Good results....let's see the stock jump again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stock seems to be in the red now.

      Delete
  7. Why is growth already slowing in USA Today's digital revenue so soon after September's relaunch? From today's quarterly report and the preceding quarter:

    Q1: Digital revenues at USA TODAY and its associated businesses were up 9.1 percent.

    Q4: Digital revenues at USA TODAY and its associated businesses increased 27.9.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Charles Everett4/23/2013 12:32 PM

    That strong 1st quarter was helped by Super Bowl 47 and in part by the NCAA Tournament. Gannett owns a number of CBS stations.

    There may be no national election this year but Gannett will have the Virginia statewide election to help their TV station in D.C.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stunning that a media company would capitalize on media events.

      Do you have anything to offer, other than the blatantly obvious?

      Delete
  9. Stock is down as they failed to beat revenue expectations for the quarter. It was also a significant drop in revenue and net earnings from last quarter. Martore also said they have grown to 50 thousand digital only customers. I believe they had 40 thousand last quarter. she is saying they expect 300 thousand by start of 2014. At the current growth rate there is no way in my opinion they come close to that number.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course they won't come close, but they'll still report they have done it. Remember, this is the same company that has spun USAT circulation for 30 years.

      Delete
    2. To get to three hundred thousand they will need to give digital only subscriptions away in free trials at the end of the year or tell print customers they have to be digital only subscribers. The only other way I could see them meeting that number is through acquisitions or a possible merger.

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    3. I'm seeing 50,000-54,000 digital-only subs now vs. 48,000 at Dec. 31. Am I reading that correctly?

      Delete
  10. GPS is a failure and why not make Evan Ray President of GPS available for questions? Revenue at locals increased primarily due to the price increase. By outsourcing the distribution and circulation at local papers they have hurt revenue increased cancellations of long time print subscribers and lost sales of single copy papers.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just don't get it. Gci post great numbers and get caned and MNI are up 8%! There's no justice in this market!!!

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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