Paramount Global (PARA) gained 4% in early trading Friday following a third-quarter earnings beat driven by Paramount+ growth.
Paramount earnings per share rose 71% from last year to $0.30, easily beating the analyst estimate of $0.11.
Revenue for the quarter rose 3% to $7.13 billion, in-line with the consensus. Direct-to-consumer revenue beat estimates, rising 38% in the year, driven by strong subscription and advertising revenue. Meanwhile, TV Media was lower-than-expected
Paramount+ subscribers reached more than 63 million, driven by 2.7 million net additions in the quarter. This beat the consensus of 2 million net additions.
Subscription revenue at the company grew 46% to $1.3 billion, driven by subscriber growth and pricing increases for Paramount+, and revenue from pay-per-view events.
Advertising revenue rose 18%, reflecting growth from Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Global viewing hours across Paramount+ and Pluto TV grew 46%.
"We continue to execute our strategy and prioritize prudent investment in streaming while maximizing the earnings of our traditional business," said President & CEO, Bob Bakish. "In Q3, we successfully grew Direct-to-Consumer revenue and Paramount+ subscribers while narrowing DTC losses over 30%. In fact, we now expect DTC losses in 2023 will be lower than in 2022 – meaning streaming investment peaked ahead of plan. Looking ahead, we remain on the path to achieving significant total company earnings growth in 2024."
Analysts at Guggenheim highlight that adjusted OIBDA of $718 million was ahead of consensus and their expectations by $100 million driven by lower-than-anticipated DTC losses. Further, the company now expects that DTC Adjusted OIBDA losses peaked in 2022 versus its prior view of 2023. In addition, the company expects a continuation of healthy Paramount+ subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, where analysts forecast 4 million net additions, with ARPU benefiting from a full quarter of price increases. Lastly, management expects strong Free Cash Flow in 4Q again benefiting from the ongoing strike and reiterated their outlook for significant earnings growth in 2024. Analysts reiterated a Buy rating and $19 price target.
Other analysts were not so sanguine.
Analysts at Bernstein said despite the positive report there is not yet a light at the end of the tunnel, keeping them sidelined on the stock. They explain: "[e]ngagement is the single most important metric in Video. Period. Higher engagement leads to lower churn, more subs, and more pricing power. Coming into this print, Paramount+'s aggregate CTV engagement share in the US did not improve vs. the prior quarter, suggesting lower engagement and higher churn vs. its competitors." They highlight that despite the 16% growth YoY, global ARPU is the lowest among major players at $6.11/month. Analysts reiterated their Underperform rating and $11 price target.