Better-than-expected revenue. Record free cash flow. Big midterm political ad spending and healthy subscriber growth. These are the key reasons, as The Motley Fool sees it, TEGNA had a tremendously positive Q4 and full-year 2018.
Investors believe so, too, as shares were up by more than 14% as of 2pm Eastern on Friday (3/1).
Total revenues grew by 31%, to $642.14 million, while operating income surged by 62.4% to $253 million.
This was seen despite a jump in operating expenses to $389 million, from $334.47 million.
Net income from continuing operations was $160.82 million (74 cents per diluted share) — down 47% from $303.28 million ($1.40).
That’s not exactly a fair picture of TEGNA’s net income, however. On a non-GAAP basis, TEGNA saw its net income rise to 74 cents per diluted share from 32 cents, with total dollars rising from $68.46 million.
This is what is exciting shareholders, with TEGNA rising by nearly 14% as of 2:22pm Eastern to $14.99.
Fueling the revenue for TEGNA was the 2016 election, and subscriber revenue. Political revenue jumped by 51% from the 2014 mid-term election season, to $140 million.
Subscription revenue soared 22% to $218 million, which TEGNA says reflects eight consecutive months of year-over-year subscriber growth.
In prepared comments, TEGNA President/CEO Dave Lougee noted that the company has renegotiated its affiliation agreement with ABC through late 2023; its existing NBC agreement goes through early 2021. “This provides us with good visibility into the cash flow growth associated with our subscription revenues,” he said.
What does TEGNA expect to see in Q1?
