Gray Television ( NYSE: GTN ) has nosedived 33% in the wake of a rough third-quarter earnings report that badly missed analyst expectations and featured current-quarter guidance well below Wall Street's view.
The company hit record revenue, up 51% to $909M, thanks to the scale provided by a number of acquisitions.
It's also benefited from the "on year" of the political cycle, and political advertising of $144M was up by 200% vs. the comparable 2018 quarter as reported, and up 30% on a combined historical basis.
"While impressive, these figures fell short of our expectations and guidance issued in early August, due to an unexpected pullback in certain key political races," Gray says. "By October, political advertising revenue increased rapidly in many races in our markets and is expected to remain robust through Election Day."
Overall, it's expecting full-year 2022 political ad revenue will hit the range of $495M-$505M.
Core ad revenue in Q3 rose 23% year-over-year as reported, but fell 3% on a comparable basis. Net income rose 417% to $95M as reported.
Broadcast cash flow rose a headline 75%, but up 29% on a comparable basis, to $358M.
For Q4, it's guiding to revenue of $1.017B-$1.049B; of that, core advertising revenue at $385M-$400M; retransmission revenue of $345M-$350M; political ad revenues of $235M-$245M; and production company revenue of $35M-$36M.
For further details see:
Gray Television sheds a third of value after Q3 miss, dim guidance