FOX (NASDAQ:FOX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

FOX (NASDAQ:FOX) issued its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.47, FiscalAI reports. FOX had a return on equity of 20.64% and a net margin of 9.84%. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.32 billion.

Here are the key takeaways from FOX’s conference call:

• Record first-quarter results: Revenue rose 22% to $4.6 billion and EBITDA increased 54% to a record $1.64 billion, while adjusted EPS climbed 68% to $2.54. Results were driven by strong sports programming, political advertising and continued platform momentum.
• Advertising and streaming momentum remained strong: Advertising revenue grew 47%, and Tubi revenue increased 35% with view time up 23%; management said Tubi’s growth is continuing into the current quarter and expects the business to reach roughly 20% margins at maturity.
• Fox One is adding largely incremental subscribers: Cable distribution revenue rose 10%, supported by pricing and subscriber growth, while 97% of Fox One subscribers reportedly do not have a cable subscription. Management cautioned that subscriber gains may be seasonal as sports schedules change.
• Fox News ratings faced difficult comparisons and viewer fatigue: Management attributed recent declines to unusually strong prior-year news audiences and said viewers appear to be watching less news overall rather than switching to competing networks, while cable digital news advertising also declined year over year.
• Cash flow benefited from timing effects: Free cash flow was $503 million, partly because World Cup rights payments occurred in the prior fiscal year while related advertising receivables were collected in the current period. Fox ended the quarter with approximately $4.5 billion in cash and $6.6 billion in debt and expects to resume share repurchases this quarter.

FOX Price Performance

NASDAQ:FOX opened at $55.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.63. FOX has a 52-week low of $44.08 and a 52-week high of $68.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.04 and a 200 day moving average of $55.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 3.17.

FOX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a yield of 96.0%. FOX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded FOX from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded FOX from a “hold” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $95.00 price objective on shares of FOX in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of FOX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $93.00 target price on shares of FOX in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FOX news, CEO Lachlan Murdoch bought 149,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $68.53 per share, for a total transaction of $10,274,977.02. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,401,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $96,059,391.89. The trade was a 11.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 23.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FOX Company Profile

Fox Corporation (NASDAQ: FOX) is a media and entertainment company formed in 2019 following the acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets by The Walt Disney Company. Fox operates a portfolio of news, sports, entertainment and local television businesses primarily serving audiences in the United States.

The company’s FOX News Media segment includes FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network, FOX News Digital and the FOX Nation streaming service. Its FOX Sports business provides live sports programming through the FOX broadcast network, FS1, FS2, FOX Deportes, the Big Ten Network and related digital platforms.