Gannett Company Inc
. (
GCI
), the publisher of one of the country's largest-selling daily
newspapers,
USA Today
, and an S&P 500 company, is scheduled to report its
third-quarter 2012 financial results on October 15, 2012.
The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter stands at
54 cents per share, indicating an estimated year-over-year increase
of 21.8% from the prior-year quarter. Revenue, as per the Zacks
Consensus Estimate, is $1.3 billion.
Second-Quarter 2012, a Synopsis
Gannett's second-quarter 2012 earnings of 56 cents a share
surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 53 cents. However, the
quarter's earnings fell 3.4% from last year's 58 cents. Including
one-time items, earnings came in at 51 cents a share, down 17.7%
from 62 cents earned in the year-ago quarter.
Gannett's total revenue inched down 2.1% to $1,307.0 million
from the prior-year quarter, due to a fall in revenue across the
Publishing segment, partially offset by gain at the Broadcasting
and Digital segments. Total revenue also fell short of the Zacks
Consensus Estimate of $1,321 million.
Agreement of Estimate Revisions
Estimate revisions for Gannett have been portraying an upward
trend for the upcoming quarter as 3 out of 7 estimates have been
revised upwards, while none were lowered in the last 30 days.
However, for 2012, 1 out of 7 estimates has been revised in the
upward direction, while one moved in the opposite
direction.
Over the last 7 days, 1 out of 7 estimates was revised in the
upward direction, while none was lowered for the third quarter of
2012.
The analysts believe that the challenging macro economic outlook
continues to remain a drag on the company's results. However,
Gannett is taking initiatives to diversify its business model by
adding new revenue streams in an effort to make it less susceptible
to economic adversities.
Gannett is repositioning itself for improvement in print and
digital media through a new subscription based model and on the
other hand, the company limits the number of free articles that a
non-subscriber can access and is enhancing the pricing
structure.
Magnitude of Estimate Revisions
Given the upward estimate revisions, the Zacks Consensus
Estimate for the third quarter inched up a penny to 54 cents in the
last 7 days, while, 2012 estimates remained stable at $2.23 a
share.
Surprise History
With respect to earnings surprises, Gannett surpassed the Zacks
Consensus Estimate in three quarters and lagged behind in one, out
of the last four trailing quarters. Earnings surprise range from a
negative 2.2% to a positive 9.7%. The average remained at a
positive 4.4%, indicating that the company has outperformed the
Zacks Consensus Estimate by the same magnitude over the trailing
four quarters.
Our Recomendation
Currently, we have a long-term Neutral recommendation on the
stock. However, Gannett, which competes with
The New York Times Company
(
NYT
), holds a Zacks #2 Rank that translates into a short-term Buy
rating.
GANNETT INC (GCI): Free Stock Analysis Report
NY TIMES A (NYT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research