Wall Street beat up on radio in 2006
At first glance, the tally for radio stock performance in 2006 isn't so bad - 12 of the stocks tracked daily by RBR were up and 16 down. But if you look closer, it was the pure play radio groups (and satellite radio) who constituted almost all of the suffering 16. Network radio giant Westwood One gets the dubious honor of being the worst performer, down nearly 57% in a year which saw it repeatedly lower ad sales projections along with bringing in a new CEO to try to get the company back on course. With radio revenue growth close to a flat line, 12 pure play radio stocks were down double digits. Also down double digits were both satellite radio companies, with the former Wall Street darlings repeatedly lowering subscriber projections. The big winner for the year was Disney, which is getting out of radio and gained largely because of resurgent ABC Television. Its stock rose nearly 43%. Next was Lincoln National, an insurance company which happens to own radio and TV stations, up almost 27%. CBS saw both classes of its stock rise 22-23% as it proved to be a high-flier following the split from Viacom. Univision gained 20.5% as it agreed to be sold for 13.7 billion. Clear Channel rose 13% on its 26.7 billion buyout to go private and Cox Radio gained nearly 16% on speculation it might also go private. So Wall Street preferred for radio companies to sell themselves rather than operate radio stations. RBR's Radio Index, currently consisting of 13 public companies whose primary business is radio, was down 13.5% for the year. SBS exited the Index in the course of 2006 as its stock price fell into penny stock territory. Our chart spells out the winners and losers.
|
Radio
|
12/30/05
|
12/29/06
|
2006
|
2006
|
|
Company
|
Close
|
Close
|
Net Chg
|
Pct Chg
|
|
Disney
|
23.97
|
34.27
|
10.30
|
42.97%
|
|
Lincoln National
|
52.31
|
66.40
|
14.09
|
26.94%
|
|
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%
|
|
Gaylord
|
43.59
|
50.93
|
7.34
|
16.84%
|
|
Cox Radio
|
14.08
|
16.30
|
2.22
|
15.77%
|
|
Entravision
|
7.12
|
8.22
|
1.10
|
15.45%
|
|
Arbitron
|
37.98
|
43.44
|
5.46
|
14.38%
|
|
Clear Channel
|
31.45
|
35.54
|
4.09
|
13.00%
|
|
Hearst-Argyle
|
23.85
|
25.50
|
1.65
|
6.92%
|
|
Fisher
|
41.43
|
44.21
|
2.78
|
6.71%
|
|
Entercom
|
29.67
|
28.18
|
-1.49
|
-5.02%
|
|
Journal
|
13.95
|
12.61
|
-1.34
|
-9.61%
|
|
Saga
|
10.87
|
9.61
|
-1.26
|
-11.59%
|
|
Cumulus
|
12.41
|
10.39
|
-2.02
|
-16.28%
|
|
Interep
|
0.36
|
0.30
|
-0.06
|
-16.67%
|
|
SBS
|
5.11
|
4.11
|
-1.00
|
-19.57%
|
|
Citadel
|
13.44
|
9.96
|
-3.48
|
-25.89%
|
|
Beasley
|
13.51
|
9.57
|
-3.94
|
-29.16%
|
|
Salem
|
17.49
|
11.95
|
-5.54
|
-31.68%
|
|
Radio One, Cl. A
|
10.27
|
6.75
|
-3.52
|
-34.27%
|
|
Radio One, Cl. D
|
10.35
|
6.74
|
-3.61
|
-34.88%
|
|
Regent
|
4.64
|
2.83
|
-1.81
|
-39.01%
|
|
XM
|
27.28
|
14.45
|
-12.83
|
-47.03%
|
|
Sirius
|
6.70
|
3.54
|
-3.16
|
-47.16%
|
|
Emmis*
|
15.91
|
8.24
|
-7.67
|
-48.21%
|
|
Westwood One
|
16.30
|
7.06
|
-9.24
|
-56.69%
|
|
Radio Index
|
181.30
|
156.91
|
-24.40
|
-13.46%
|
|
*adjusted for $4 special dividend
|
|
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©2007 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
