Every quarter most of the major companies and most of Northlake’s individual stock positions all report during the same week. This occurred during the week just ending. It is a crazy time of conference calls, research reports, volatile stocks, more conference calls, and even more conference calls! There is a benefit to all this as […]
Last Friday, the Newspaper Association of America released its 4Q07 and full year 2007 advertising expenditure data. Not surprisingly, the NAA titled its press release, “Online Advertising Jumps 19 percent in 2007.” The only problem with headline is that online advertising represented just 7.5% of all newspapers ads last year. Print advertising, which represents the […]
New York Times shares traded below $20 yesterday for the first time since April 1997. As recently as June, NYT was over $26. The stock was over $30 almost two years ago exactly. In 2002, NYT shares briefly traded over $50. NYT’s fall yesterday was matched by new lows for McClatchy and Lee Enterprises. Gannett […]
Gannett (GCI) reported another poor quarter as expected. There was nothing in the numbers to signal less pressure on revenues was around the corner. In addition, management provided no commentary on fundamentals or use of cash flow and the balance sheet that would reassure investors. As a result, I see no reason to be bullish […]
McClatchy (MNI) announced it was selling the Minneapolis Star Tribune to a private equity outfit for $530 million. MNI will also receive a $160 million tax benefit on the sale. The Star Tribune is the 14th largest daily newspaper in the country by circulation. MNI is selling the paper as the final major step in […]
The launch of a newspaper industry ad buying marketplace by Google (GOOG) is an interesting development. Studies have shown that newspapers only reach a fraction of the potential advertisers within their geography. I read one study that said it was as low of 20% of potential advertisers. Most of the advertisers that aren’t using newspapers […]
Newspaper industry fundamentals continue to look pretty bleak. According to Citigroup, August was the worst month so far this year for advertising growth with industrywide year over year declines averaging 1% against an easy comp. In fact, Citigroup states that the ad revenue growth in August was the worst since 2002. Help Wanted advertising continues […]
There were some interesting developments in the newspaper industry yesterday. First, Nelson Peltz has filed with the SEC indicating he has an ownership stake in Tribune (TRB) of 1% of the outstanding shares. The amount is small and there is no way of knowing his intentions but it is probably fair to deduce that the […]
Newspapers companies presented to analysts last week in the annual mid-year review. I did not attend the meetings or listen in on any webcasts but I did review several summary reports prepared by analysts including Lauren Fine of Merrill Lynch and Mark Fenton of Citigroup. Overall, the presentations gave little hope for the short-term other […]
Newspaper companies are among the first to report each quarter. As of today, most of the companies have reported. In the “Continue Reading” section linked below, I have posted a series of notes beginning with a preview and including summaries of the reports from Gannett, New York Times, Tribune, and Dow Jones. I entered the […]
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