Posted on 02/04/2008 5:14:32 PM PST by Milhous
NEW YORK (AP) Gannett Co.'s stock fell Monday as a Bear Stearns analyst downgraded the nation's largest newspaper publisher, citing ongoing advertising revenue softness.
Analyst Alexia Quadrani said the McLean, Va.-based company's 14.5 percent decline in December newspaper advertising revenue was a significant slide from the average 4.6 percent dropoff in October and November advertising results.
The analyst was also disappointed with USA Today's fourth-quarter ad revenue slide of 12.7 percent and noted that the paper never experienced the ad sales increase in the second half of the year that was predicted.
In addition, Quadrani was concerned that the increase in political advertising anticipated for late last year and 2008 has yet to surface.
"We believe these political dollars will now be more back-end loaded, mostly likely materializing when investors will already be looking toward 2009," she wrote in a client note.
Quadrani reduced her rating to "Peer Perform" from "Outperform" and cut her 2008 profit estimate to $4.31 per share from $4.37 per share on slightly lower revenue growth expectations.
Elsewhere, Craig Huber of Lehman Brothers cut his Gannett price target, saying the company's stock price — as well as others in the sector — are unappealing due to ad revenue concerns and circulation declines. He trimmed his price target to $30 from $36 and reduced his 2008 earnings forecast to $4.15 per share from $4.35 per share. Huber also lowered his 2009 estimate to $3.85 per share from $4 per share.
Shares of Gannett shed $2.01 or 5.3 percent, to $35.46 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $31.97 to $63.50.
ping
Die, Gannett!
At social gatherings, especially, [Lasnier] was struck by how closely his identity had been tied to his work. He also missed the cachet of his newspaper job. "Being a journalist is cool," Lasnier says. "Having that label–there's a 'wow' factor that we can't deny we get a little bit of a rush from." ...
Several admitted they missed the prestige of being a journalist, though they sensed that, to the outside world, journalism’s glamour is fading. ...
Says Louie: "Once you can let go of the fact that you don't have a cool media affiliation, you can appreciate yourself for who you are."
meanwhile..... Fox And Friends announced this morning that News Corp was profitable and experienced a 1% increase in fourth Quarter profitability over the same period last year.
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