BZFD - BuzzFeed slides as BofA downgrades as advertising macro issues likely to hurt near-term

BuzzFeed ( NASDAQ: BZFD ) shares skidded on Thursday as investment firm Bank of America downgraded the media company and cut its price target by more than half, citing worries over the advertising market and broader economy that are likely to "weigh on near term  fundamentals and visibility."

Analyst Brent Navon lowered his rating on BuzzFeed ( BZFD ) shares to underperform from neutral and cut the firm's price target to $2 from $4.50, noting that the company has a "collection of strong brands," but broader issues, like advertising weakness and the global economy, are likely to hinder the company's performance.

"We believe the combination of these factors will drive near term underperformance relative to our Media and Entertainment coverage universe," Navon wrote in a note to clients. "Absent an improvement in macro conditions, we struggle to find catalysts that would fundamentally alter BZFD’s current trajectory."

BuzzFeed ( BZFD ) shares fell more than 4% to $1.82 in premarket trading.

Navon also lowered his third-quarter and full-year 2022 revenue and EBITDA estimates to reflect the company's recently issued results that missed expectations.

The analyst now expects third-quarter revenue of $94M and adjusted EBITDA of $5.4M, compared to a prior out look of $117M and $10.1M, respectively. He also now expects full-year revenue to be $435M and EBITDA to be $15M, down from $492M and $40M, respectively.

In June, BuzzFeed ( BZFD )  director Acharia Angela purchased 175,000 shares of common stock for at total of $440,000 .

Analysts are mixed on BuzzFeed ( BZFD ). It had no rating of from Seeking Alpha authors, while Wall Street analysts rate it a BUY . Conversely, Seeking Alpha's quant system, which consistently beats the market, rates BZFD a STRONG SELL .

For further details see: