NXST - Nexstar Media Group Inc. (NXST) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-05-09 17:12:11 ET
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST)
Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
May 09, 2024, 10:00 ET
Company Participants
Joseph Jaffoni - JCIR
Perry Sook - Founder, Chairman & CEO
Michael Biard - President & COO
Lee Ann Gliha - EVP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Daniel Kurnos - The Benchmark Company
Benjamin Soff - Deutsche Bank
Steven Cahall - Wells Fargo Securities
Alan Gould - Loop Capital Markets
Craig Huber - Huber Research Partners
James Goss - Barrington Research Associates
Jason Bazinet - Citigroup
John Kornreich - BK Media
Aaron Watts - Deutsche Bank
Barton Crockett - Rosenblatt Securities
Presentation
Operator
Good day, and welcome to Nexstar Media Group's First Quarter 2024 Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Joe Jaffoni, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Joseph Jaffoni
Thank you, Maria, and good morning, everyone. I'll read the safe harbor language, and then we'll get right into the call. All statements and comments made by management during this conference call other than statements of historical fact, may be deemed forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. .
Nexstar cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by the forward-looking statements made during this call. For additional details on these risks and uncertainties, please see Nexstar's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Nexstar's subsequent public filings with the SEC. Nexstar undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
It's now my pleasure to turn the conference over to your host, Nexstar's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Perry Sook. Perry, please go ahead.
Perry Sook
Thank you, Joseph, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. This morning, with me on today's call are Mike Baird, our President and Chief Operating Officer; and Lee Ann Gliha, our Chief Financial Officer; I will start with a summary of recent highlights, followed by Mike's operational review as well as Lee Ann's financial review, and then we'll get to your questions. .
Nexstar's first quarter results marked an excellent start to 2024 and what we expect will be another strong year for the company. We delivered record first quarter net revenue of $1.28 billion, driven by all-time high quarterly distribution revenue of $761 million. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow once again exceeded consensus expectations and more importantly, underscore the strong profitability of our business model.
Our continued outperformance in the current environment is no surprise to us. We've been consistently clear in our view that broadcast is the bellwether of the pay-TV ecosystem. Consumers value the bundled programming offerings provided by pay-TV distributors that are anchored by our stations. And is the largest local broadcaster and owner of 1 of the nation's 5 major broadcast networks, as well as the nation's fastest-growing cable news network. Nexstar's importance to the industry is clear and further validated by our consistently strong financial execution, Free cash flow generation and shareholder returns.
I recently came across a Harvard business review article on the subject of disruption, which has been a recurring theme for many years now in the pay-TV industry. And in it, the authors note that corporate leaders have continually been told that the only way to innovate and grow is to disrupt their industries or even their own companies. But for disruption to be a success, there needs to be a clear trade-off between winners and losers. ...
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript