Thursday’s surprising pre-release of select Q3 2017 preliminary earnings results from Cumulus Media seemed to do the trick for the No. 2 radio broadcasting company seeking to show its debtholders that its management team, all the way down to local sellers and air talent, are working hard to bring the company back from the brink of insolvency.
The largely positive pre-results were met with an immediate response from Wall Street investors: Buy! At one point in the first 30 minutes of trading, Cumulus shares were up 100%. At the closing bell, they finished with a 57.7% improvement.
In Friday’s trading, Cumulus stock retreated in a noticeable way, giving back much of Thursday’s gains and raising new concerns about the company’s fiscal health.
At the Closing Bell on Wall Street, CMLS shares were off 12%, ending the week at 44 cents.
With shares as high as 65 cents in the early hours of Thursday’s trading, one may wonder what the immediate future holds for Cumulus — and why its stock didn’t ascend further on Friday.
What is clear is that today’s volume was massive — some 6.7 million shares were traded.
Cumulus’ average volume is just 150,671 shares.
Meanwhile, one cannot escape looking at Cumulus’ market capitalization, which presently stands at just $12.89 million.
There was no immediate explanation for the activity on Friday.
As reported by RBR+TVBR, for the three months ended Sept. 30, Cumulus expects to report flat net revenue in a range of $286 million to $288 million. This compares to net revenue of $286.14 million in Q3 2016. Additionally, adjusted EBITDA is expected to fall into the $60 million-$62 million range. That’s a 36.7% improvement from Q3 2016.
But, Cumulus could see anywhere from a net loss of $300,000 to net income of $1.7 million.
