FOX - Fox rallies as higher political ad revenues promote strong profits: Q1 Results

• Fox ( NASDAQ: FOX ) stock is up 3% on Tuesday after the company posted beat on both top and bottom line for its first quarter .
• Revenue of $3.19B (+4.6% Y/Y) beat consensus by $20M .
• By Component: Affiliate revenues increased 3% to $1.71B led by 6% growth at the television segment; Advertising revenues increased 8% to $1.22B driven by higher political advertising; and other revenue rose 5% due to higher FOX Nation subscription revenues.
• On segment front, Cable Network Programming and Television saw some impact of net subscriber declines in Affiliate fee revenues.
• Quarterly Adjusted EBITDA was $1.09B, a 3% increase from the $1.06B reported in the prior year quarter.
• Fox said it has received Board's approval to repurchase up to $4B shares; to date, the company has repurchased $2B of its Class A common stock and $860M of its Class B common stock.
• Net income for the quarter was $605M or $1.10 per share; Non-GAAP EPS of $1.21 beats by $0.09.
• "These results demonstrate the continued strength of our established businesses along with the momentum across our digital portfolio. It is a strong start to what promises to be a notable fiscal year of prominent scheduled events across the company underscoring the importance of our live and event programming to viewers," commented CEO Lachlan Murdoch.
• As disclosed already on Oct. 14, Fox has formed a special committee composed of independent members to begin exploring a potential combination with News Corporation.
• "Recently, a large shareholder of both companies - billionaire Rupert Murdoch - came out, arguing that they (Fox Corporation and News Corp) should recombine. The potential transaction would complement FOX's core live news assets - facing pay-TV headwinds - in distribution, content creation and bundling," explains Seeking Alpha contributor at Buy rating on Fox ( FOX ).

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