Entries by Steve Birenberg

Discovery Communications Still Going Strong

Discovery Communications (DISCK) reported another good quarter, matching or exceeding most Street estimates. Revenues grew 11% and EBITDA rose 12%. EPS of 62 cents was a penny ahead of consensus. The company slightly raised guidance to reflect the better than expected second quarter performance. In addition to the solid financial report, the company announced accelerating […]

Starz Aligning While Capital is Quiet

Liberty Starz (LSTZA) and Liberty Capital (LCAPA) reported largely uneventful second quarter earnings. Both stock still offer excellent value on an asset basis. LSTZA also has a solid underlying business producing moderate growth and significant free cash flow. LSTZA reported slightly better than expected second quarter results. Revenue rose 5% and EBITDA rose 6%. Subscribers […]

Les is More at CBS

Les is More! CBS delivered another outstanding quarter. Led by Les Moonves, CEO and President, CBS continues to put in by far the best performance of any media company. CBS reported EPS of 58 cents, well in excess of the 45 cents consensus. Revenues were just a bit ahead of expectations at $3.59 billion vs. […]

Growth and Mid Caps Favored for August

As I suspected might occur, Northlake’s Style model shifted from Value to Growth for August. The Market Cap model is unchanged for August. It continues to favor Mid Cap. As a result of the new Growth signal, all client positions in the Russell 1000 Value (IWD) have been swapped into the Russell 1000 Growth (IWF). […]

Mixed Results for Virgin Media

Virgin Media (VMED) reported mixed 2Q11 results. Financial performance matched expectations as revenue rose 2.2% and EBITDA gained 6.1%. The disappointment was on the subscriber side as overall subscribers fell slightly. Losses were seen in video, phone, and high speed data. Gross additions were not too bad but churn picked up. VMED’s leading broadband and […]

Another Apple Blowout as Emerging Markets Lead

Apple reported another blowout quarter. While that is never surprising, there was some reason to be concerned going into the quarter. Supply constraints have left uncertainty about the true level of iPad demand. Verizon iPhone sales have been good but not great. Pending product transitions including the new Lion operating system and iPhone5 could have […]

Google is a Growth Stock Again

The most important takeaway from Google’s (GOOG) second quarter 2011 results is that GOOG is still a growth company. This means that earnings in the future will be higher than Wall Street expects for a longer period of time. In turn, investors will now pay a higher P-E multiple for GOOG. These basic facts explain […]

Mid Cap and Value Still Reign

For the seventh consecutive month there were no changes to the signals from Northlake’s Market Cap and Style models. Mid Cap and Value continue to be favored. As a result, client positions in the S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY) and the Russell 1000 Value (IWD) will be maintained for another month. The lack of change […]

Mid Cap and Value Again for June

There were no changes to the signals from Northlake’s Market Cap or Style models for June. The Market Cap model continues to recommend Mid Cap, while the Style model remains on a Value signal. As a result of the latest signals, there are no changes to the portion of Northlake client portfolios dedicated to the […]

Liberty Capital Makes a play for Barnes and Noble

Liberty Capital (LCAPA) is an asset play. The stock trades with the value of the assets it owns including 40% of Sirius XM (SIRI), a double digit stake in Live Nation Ticketmaster (LYV), and smaller holdings in a variety of publicly traded media and telecom companies. LCAPA also owns a few significant private assets including […]