How Is Meredith (MDP) Stock Placed Ahead Of Q3 Earnings?

Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) is expected to release third-quarter fiscal 2018 results on Apr 26. In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 25.3%. Moreover, it has an average earnings beat of 11.6% for the trailing four quarters. Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

What to Expect?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings is 51 cents, reflecting a year-over-year decline of 41.4%. We note that the Zacks Consensus Estimate has been stable in the past 30 days. Analysts polled by Zacks expect revenues of $983 million compared with $425.4 million reported in the year-ago quarter.

Factors Influencing This Quarter

With the unprecedented rise of technology, print media is dying a slow death. Increasing online readership is compelling Meredith to go the extra mile with its portfolio of magazines. Notably, the company’s strategic initiatives, particularly in the digital space, brand licensing activities, solid portfolio of television stations and robust earnings surprise history reinforce its position as one of the leading media and marketing companies.

Meredith Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Meredith Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Meredith Corporation Quote

In keeping with its strategy to focus on core operations, Meredith has decided to offload Meredith Xcelerated Marketing to Accenture. This closely followed Meredith’s announcement of a new sales and marketing structure for its National Media Group and strategic plans to integrate the recent buyout of Time Inc. This strategy mainly involves the reviewing of media asset portfolio and divestiture of non-core brands; augmenting advertising as well as circulation feat of the Time Inc. properties; increasing revenue and profits of Time Inc. digital assets; and generating cost synergies. With the completion of portfolio review, Meredith intends to sell the TIME, Sports Illustrated, Money and Fortune magazine brands.

In order to strengthen its foothold in the digital space, the company teamed up with eMeals to chalk out meal plans for home cooks. For all to know, eMeals provides digital meal planning solutions. Allrecipes, Better Homes & Gardens and EatingWell users will now have access to an end-to-end meal planning app, which helps one learn recipes, prepare shopping lists and even aids in grocery fulfillment.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively show a beat for Meredith this earnings season. This is because a stock needs to have both a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP.

Meredith has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. While the company’s Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise. You may uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks Poised to Trump Earnings Estimates

Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has an Earnings ESP of +1.34% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) has an Earnings ESP of +0.77% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) has an Earnings ESP of +4.17% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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