Entries by Steve Birenberg

Cablevision: March 2006 Quarterly Earnings Preview

Cablevision (CVC) should report another strong quarter before the open on Tuesday. Analyst are estimated growth in the mid to upper teens for revenues and EBITDA in the company’s Telecom division. Consolidate growth will be a little less as the company’s programming assets and New York City properties will grow at a modestly slower rate. […]

Tom Cruise Falls Short But Regal Still Looks Good

Despite a weaker than expected opening for Mission: Impossible III, the weekend box office rose 24% against easy year ago comparisons. Based on the data I use from BoxOfficeMojo.com, the box office is up more than 6% so far this year. With price increases running at less than 5%, this implies that attendance is growing […]

Disney March 2006 Quarterly Earnings Preview

Disney (DIS) reports its 2Q06 after the close on Tuesday. Consensus calls for 31 cents against 32 cents a year ago. DIS has forecast a backend loaded year leading to a fourth straight year of 10% growth. The shares have acted well all year so there is little concern about the flat year-over-year growth forecast […]

NTL March 2006 Quarterly Earnings Preview

NTL Incorporated (NTLI) shares have held onto most of their gains following the early March closure of the company’s merger with Telewest. Since that time, the company has also formally announced its merger with Virgin Mobile that is schedule to close in June. NTLI reports tomorrow and the focus will be on cost reductions related […]

Warner Music Group: No Wonder Edgar Doesn’t Want To Sell

Warner Music (WMG) reported very strong March quarter results this morning. EMI, which is trying to buy the company, now has extra incentive to raise its price slightly. The combination of good earnings and takeover interest should keep WMG shares at current levels or slightly higher. Upside is limited, however, as a buyout is unlikely […]

Unvision: Good Quarter Supports Buyout Valuation

Bidders for Univision (UVN) won’t have to adjust their models very much based upon the company’s 1Q06 earnings report. Revenues were about $10 million light, but margins were better than expected so EBITDA slightly exceeded estimates. EPS also beat by a couple of pennies. Specifically, revenue was $49 million against consensus of $460 million, EBITDA […]

I Liked DirecTV’s Quarter But Market Did Not

I think the numbers from DirecTV (DTV) look pretty good. The results support the company’s new strategy to focus on profitable growth even if it means slightly slower subscriber growth. Gross adds did come in a little light at 919,000 vs. estimates of around 1 million. However, the focus on retaining and attracting better quality […]

Cramer Mentions NTL and Yours Truly

Jim Cramer mentioned NTL Incorporated (NTLI) bullishly last night on Mad Money, including a mention of my analysis on StreetInsight.com that is also posted here. With Cramer putting the stock in the news, I wanted to mention that the company recently announced it will report before the open next Tuesday, May 9. Additionally, at least […]