Mixed showing for TV stocks in 2006
"Old media" stocks were not loved by Wall Street investors in 2006. Newspapers were particularly out of favor, so the stocks tracked daily by TVBR of newspaper/TV combination companies fared poorly last year. They were not, however, the worst performers. Emmis, a radio company which has nearly exited TV, fell over 48% as CEO Jeff Smulyan's attempt to take the company private was rejected by the independent directors on the Emmis board. The next two spots near the bottom of our chart belong to penny stock companies, who tend to have volatile stocks. Ion Media Networks fell over 44%, but posted ratings and revenue gains in 2006. Granite fell 38% as it ended up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Media General did some long-term planning for growth, acquiring four TV stations from NBC, but saw its stock fall nearly 27%. On top was Disney, up nearly 43%, due largely to resurgent ABC Television. ACME jumped over 41% as investors decided the CW network was likely to succeed. News Corporation grabbed MySpace, which helped push its stock up 34%. Close behind was McGraw-Hill (with very little TV presence, but other strong businesses), up nearly 32%. CBS was rewarded for strong performance after its split from Viacom, with its two classes of stock up 22-23%. Univision gained 20.5% as it agreed to be sold for 13.7 billion and Clear Channel rose 13% on its 26.7 billion buyout to go private. Our chart spells out the winners and losers.
2006 television stock performance
|
Television
|
12/30/05
|
12/29/06
|
2006
|
2006
|
|
Company
|
Close
|
Close
|
Net Chg
|
Pct Chg
|
|
Disney
|
23.97
|
34.27
|
10.30
|
42.97%
|
|
ACME
|
3.55
|
5.02
|
1.47
|
41.41%
|
|
News Corp.
|
16.61
|
22.26
|
5.65
|
34.02%
|
|
McGraw-Hill
|
51.63
|
68.02
|
16.39
|
31.75%
|
|
Lincoln National
|
52.31
|
66.40
|
14.09
|
26.94%
|
|
Time Warner
|
17.44
|
21.78
|
4.34
|
24.89%
|
|
CBS Cl. A
|
25.40
|
31.22
|
5.82
|
22.91%
|
|
CBS Cl. B
|
25.50
|
31.18
|
5.68
|
22.27%
|
|
Univision
|
29.39
|
35.42
|
6.03
|
20.52%
|
|
Entravision
|
7.12
|
8.22
|
1.10
|
15.45%
|
|
Sinclair
|
9.20
|
10.50
|
1.30
|
14.13%
|
|
Clear Channel
|
31.45
|
35.54
|
4.09
|
13.00%
|
|
Young
|
2.60
|
2.82
|
0.22
|
8.46%
|
|
Meredith
|
52.34
|
56.35
|
4.01
|
7.66%
|
|
Hearst-Argyle
|
23.85
|
25.50
|
1.65
|
6.92%
|
|
Fisher
|
41.43
|
44.21
|
2.78
|
6.71%
|
|
General Elec.
|
35.05
|
37.21
|
2.16
|
6.16%
|
|
Scripps
|
48.02
|
49.94
|
1.92
|
4.00%
|
|
Tribune
|
30.26
|
30.78
|
0.52
|
1.72%
|
|
Gannett
|
60.57
|
60.46
|
-0.11
|
-0.18%
|
|
Wash. Post
|
765.00
|
745.60
|
-19.40
|
-2.54%
|
|
Nexstar
|
5.01
|
4.65
|
-0.36
|
-7.19%
|
|
New York Times
|
26.45
|
24.36
|
-2.09
|
-7.90%
|
|
Gray, Cl. A
|
9.05
|
8.22
|
-0.83
|
-9.17%
|
|
Journal
|
13.95
|
12.61
|
-1.34
|
-9.61%
|
|
LIN Television
|
11.14
|
9.95
|
-1.19
|
-10.68%
|
|
Saga
|
10.87
|
9.61
|
-1.26
|
-11.59%
|
|
Belo
|
21.41
|
18.37
|
-3.04
|
-14.20%
|
|
SBS
|
5.11
|
4.11
|
-1.00
|
-19.57%
|
|
Gray (common)
|
9.82
|
7.33
|
-2.49
|
-25.36%
|
|
Media General
|
50.70
|
37.17
|
-13.53
|
-26.69%
|
|
Granite
|
0.21
|
0.13
|
-0.08
|
-38.10%
|
|
Ion Media
|
0.90
|
0.50
|
-0.40
|
-44.44%
|
|
Emmis*
|
15.91
|
8.24
|
-7.67
|
-48.21%
|
|
*adjusted for $4 special dividend
|
|
|
©2007 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
