Silver Spring, MD-based Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA) reported lackluster results for the third quarter of 2016. The company’s third-quarter 2016 earnings (on an adjusted basis) of 40 cents per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents. Earnings also declined from the year-ago figure by 15%.
Discovery’s third-quarter revenues of $1,556 million were flat on a year-over-year basis. Revenues, however, narrowly missed the Zacks Consensus estimate of $1,565 million. Foreign currency movements impacted results as revenue improvement in the U.S. networks and Education and Other was offset by a decline in International Networks revenues.
Quarterly Performance
Total Distribution revenue was $806 million, up 3.9% year over year. Total Advertising revenue came in at $670 million, down 4.1% year over year. Other revenues decreased 2.4% to $80 million. Quarterly expenses (on a reported basis) increased 4.4% to $1,098 million in the reported quarter. Quarterly adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) dipped 2% year over year to $562 million.
The Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company exited the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $224 million and $7,901 million of debt outstanding (non-current portion) compared with $390 million and $7,616 million, respectively, at the end of 2015.
The company bought back shares worth $374 million in the reported quarter.
Discovery faces intense competition from peers like Central European Media (NASDAQ:CETV) , CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS) and Cumulus Media (NASDAQ:CMLS) . All three companies carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
DISCOVERY COM-A Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Segmental Details
U.S. Networks
Total revenue came in at $793 million, up 2% year over year. Distribution revenues of the segment were up 7% year over year, whereas advertising revenues were down 3% from the year-ago quarter. Other revenues rose 14%. Adjusted OIBDA was up 3% year over year. Adjusted OIBDA margin was 58% in the reported quarter as against 57% a year ago.
International Networks
Total revenue came in at $720 million, down 3% year over year. Distribution revenues increased 1%, whereas advertising revenues fell 6%, on a year-over-year basis. Other revenues deteriorated 31% year over year. Furthermore, adjusted OIBDA decreased 16% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted OIBDA margin was 25% compared with 29% in the prior-year quarter.
Education & Other
Total revenue at the segment was $43 million, up 19% year over year.
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