This is Why Viacom’s Stock Fell Despite Beating Earnings Expectations

Viacom

Media company Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:$VIAB), which owns large television channels and production companies like MTV, Comedy Central, and Paramount Pictures, released its third quarter earnings on Thursday, August 3. Although earnings mostly surpassed analysts’ expectations, investors are more concerned over a delayed payment from Huahua Media and Viacom’s continued expectations of decrease in ad revenue.

Back in January, Viacom announced that it had received $1 billion in investment from Shanghai Film Group (SHA:$601595) and Huahua Media. As well, Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media will be funding a quarter of all of Paramount’s films made in the next three years. The investment was much-needed one, as Viacom tried to expand itself. In an earnings call to investors on August 3, Viacom revealed that Huahua has delayed a payment in this deal. This was a large factor in Viacom’s stock decreasing by a drastic 7.81% in after-hours trading, despite the prior release of a strong quarterly earnings report.

Viacom’s domestic affiliate revenue in the third quarter went up by 4% to $1.01 billion. This surpassed the average analyst expectation of a 2.8% increase in domestic affiliate revenue, according to FactSet (NYSE:$FDS). Not including items, Viacom saw earnings of $1.17 per share this quarter, also beating average analysts’ expectations of $1.05 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Total revenue was $3.36 billion, which is up from analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. Total net profit attributable to Viacom was $683 million, or $1.70 per share. This was an increase from the net profit of $432 million Viacom saw in 2016’s third quarter.

Viacom, along with many other media companies, have been facing lower ratings and ad revenues in the wake of the rising popularity of online streaming networks like Netflix (NASDAQ:$NFLX) or Amazon’s (NASDAQ:$AMZN) Prime. As such, it was no surprise when Viacom posted a 2% decrease in domestic advertising revenue in its third quarter. This is the 12th straight quarter where domestic advertising revenue has fallen. Analysts expected a 2% decrease, according to FactSet.

In February, Viacom announced that it will be focusing on Paramount, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr. as a part of a growth plan thought up by the company’s new CEO Bob Bakish. “There remains much work to be done, but we will continue to build on this progress for our shareholders, partners and fans,” Bakish stated.

Besides the bad news from Huahua, Viacom was outbidded by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:$DISCA) in the acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive (NASDAQ:$SNI). Scripps owns assets such as the Food Network, HGTV, the Travel Channel, and more. Discovery announced on Monday, July 31, that it will be purchasing Scripps for about $11.9 billion.

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About the author: Grace is currently studying at UBC to achieve her BA in Computer Science. She is due to graduate in 2020. As a content creator, Grace has written financial analysis, stock market news, and informational investing articles. She also worked as an editor with her university publication 'UBC Undergraduate Journal of Art History'.