NobleCon 18 highlights Frank Lopez-Balboa, CFO, and Collin Jones, Corporate Development, held a fireside chat and outlined its operational and debt reduction strategy. In addition, management highlighted an improved financial profile given a rebounding advertising environment. A replay of the company's presentation may be found here.Recovery at full speed. Management declared that advertising is recovering beyond pre-pandemic levels, thanks to emerging categories such as sports betting and crypto currencies, as well as a strong comeback in entertainment and finance ad categories. These trends offset auto, which is not expected to be rebound now until 2023. Additionally, in 2022, political revenue is expected to surpass the 2018 midterm election levels of $20 million.Takeover offer. The company recently received a "highly conditional indication of interest" which valued the enterprise in the range of $15-17 a share, well below our $27 price target. The shares soared 40% after the announcement, although remain at a substantial discount compared with our price target. We believe the price significantly undervalues the company given its aggressive debt reduction and improving fundamentals. Financial flexibility. Maintaining a healthy balance sheet is a priority for the company. Notably, debt leverage stands at 4.7 times cash flow, with a near-term goal of 3.5 times. Management indicated that it is interested in returning capital to shareholders possibly before it hits the 3.5 times leverage target. Reiterate outperform: Near current levels, the CMLS shares trade at a modest 5.2 times our 2022 adj. EBITDA multiple. We believe that the company's free cash flow generation, earmarked for debt reduction, should provide improve the equity value and possibly lead toward an upward valuation in the stock multiple. Applying a multiple in line with its peers, we arrive at a price target of $27. The shares are rated outperform. Read More >>