Disney (DIS) reported another quarter of massive subscriber gains for Disney+ and steady growth for the Hulu and ESPN streaming services. Subscribers for Disney+ came in at almost 74mm vs expectations of 65mm, growth of about 16mm subscribers since the end of last quarter. About half the gain came from India, where DIS charges less […]
Beginning this quarter, we are adding a new blog post to cover the income-oriented stock and ETF ideas we have been increasingly using in client portfolios. Not all clients use these investments, but we have broadened their use, so we thought it would be useful to produce summary commentary each quarter. Up until 2020, most […]
ViacomCBS (VIAC) reported slightly better than expected earnings for 3Q20. The good news was both advertising and cable affiliate fees came in above Wall Street expectations. Advertising was still down versus last year due to COVID impacts but -9% is a vast improvement from 2Q20 even with a boost from political spending. More impressively, cable […]
Nexstar Media Group (NXST) reported another great quarter driven by political advertising and tight management of operating expenses. Results easily exceeded recently raised consensus estimates. Throughout 2020, this has been a consistent pattern for NXST, a testament to the strength of the management team and the strategic and financial success of the acquisition of Tribune […]
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) reported strong 3Q20 earnings driven by its Call of Duty franchise. Revenues and earnings were above management guidance and the even higher analyst estimates. Management raised the 2020 outlook, and initial comments on 2021 suggest management believes earnings can grow against the tough 2020 COVID-boosted results. Over the summer, we made sales […]
Facebook continues to perform well despite the economic impact of the pandemic and negative publicity surrounding privacy and political issues. Ad revenue grew 22% during 3Q20, powering a better than expected earnings report. This is the second consecutive quarter that Facebook had better than expected advertising growth, supporting the idea that it is a COVID […]
Apple reported strong 4Q20 earnings with headline numbers for revenue and EPS ahead of Wall Street estimates. The stock responded by trading down -6%, however, due to the composition of revenue and a refusal to provide detailed top line guidance for the December quarter. Revenue was up 1% vs a year ago and about 2% […]
Alphabet returned to nearly pre-pandemic growth in 3Q20 led by Cloud and YouTube. Advertising revenues grew 15% adjusted for foreign currency, just below the high-teens level of late 2019. Revenues, margins, and operating profits all surprised materially to the upside, with the overall results relative to consensus estimates the biggest positive surprise in many years. […]
Comcast remains a tale of three cities: cable, NBC Universal (NBCU), and Sky. Fortunately for investors, the dominant business – cable – is a clear COVID winner with attractive secular prospects. On the other hand, NBCU and Sky are COVID losers facing secular challenges. Results in 3Q20 were very strong in cable led by broadband. […]
IBM reported 3Q20 earnings last week that were largely in line with expectations and consistent with trends over the past few quarters. The report came on the heels of a major announcement from the company that it will be spinning a big piece of its slow-growing business to increase concertation on its cloud and artificial […]
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