CMLS - Audacy: Stock Price Down But Improved Clarity On Outlook

• Since mid-2021, Audacy stock has been beaten down by the Delta variant, supply chain shocks that have held back auto advertisers, and now Omicron.
• As recently as 2021Q3 earnings a few weeks ago, management was expecting to get back to 2019 levels by 2022, and some regions/categories are already close or above that.
• The company has a lot of debt, but a combination of steady business improvement and financial engineering should mean that covenants won't be an issue.
• Ad categories that are still depressed are ones that have been impacted by Covid or supply chain issues, which points to the temporary nature of headwinds.
• Audacy's stock price volatility looks to be far in excess of changes in underlying business fundamentals. Arguably, there's now a better risk-return trade-off than earlier in the year.

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