Posts for Ticker ‘LEE’

Rating the Top 25 Newspaper Websites 2009

newspaperThe struggle for large urban newspapers to stay in business has largely been an effort on the part of their managements to increase revenue on the Internet faster than it is lost in their print editions. It has become clear that the race is becoming one that newspapers are unlikely to win. Internet revenue for some online editions is actually dropping. Print advertising is going down as fast as it did in 2008. Several large newspapers including The Rocky Mountain News have folded in the last year. The owners of other papers, particularly The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle, have threatened to fold these properties unless workers are willing to accept significant cuts in people or compensation.

A few newspaper websites have extremely large numbers of visitors. Online research service Compete.com reported that NYTimes.com had nearly 15 million unique visitors in May. The New York Times Company (NYT) reported that its online revenue fell 8% to $42.2 million in the first quarter, despite the size of the flagship paper’s website and other online properties such as Boston.com, the website affiliated with The Boston Globe. Online revenue was only 12.8% of the company’s sales, hardly adequate to have a significant impact on a firm  in severe financial trouble. The Washington Post Company’s newspaper revenue associated with online publishing fell 8% to $23 million in the first quarter of 2009. Washingtonpost.com had 8.7 million unique visitors in May, which makes it a large website, but clearly not big enough. Newspaper publishing revenue at the Post was $160.9 million in Q1, down 22% from the same period a year ago. The company losing revenue that fast cannot afford to have its online revenue shrink and account for only 14% of total sales. Read More »

Posted on: June 15, 2009 – 8:36 pm in Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Internet, Media, Old Media, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ten Major Newspapers That Will Fold Or Go Digital, An Update

newspaper21Over the last few weeks, the newspaper industry has entered a new period of decline. The parent of the papers in Philadelphia declared bankruptcy as did the Journal Register chain. The Rocky Mountain News closed and the Seattle Post Intelligencer, owned by Hearst, now publishes only online. Hearst has held off closing The San Francisco Chronicle after making massive cuts at the paper. The property still may not be profitable. Advance Publications has announced a mandatory 10-day furlough and a pension freeze at nearly all of its daily papers outside Michigan. In Michigan, the company is closing the Ann Arbor News, the daily in that city, and significantly cutting back frequency of newspapers in Flint, Bay City and Saginaw. At other papers across the country changes have been made to save money. For example, The Washington Post is merging its business section into the first section of the paper. The San Diego Union-Tribune was sold to a private equity group at a price rumored to be only $50 million.

The 24/7 Wall St. analysis was criticized by a number of papers on this list and other analysts who follow the newspaper industry. But, not one of the ten papers would say that it would  stay open for the next 18 months. Papers who told us that they were making money would not answer the question of whether their profits were based on GAAP or some bogus measurement like adjusted EBITDA. None of the papers would answer that simple question. Read More »

Posted on: March 24, 2009 – 1:49 pm in Internet, Media, Old Media, , , , ,

Gannett (GCI) Says USA Today Revenue May Drop 35%

newspaper18The downturn in newspaper ad revenue has gone from awful to extraordinary. Gannett (GCI) told analysts that sales at its flagship USA Today paper could be down as much as 35%. That would certainly be an indication that the firm’s other dailies are doing poorly and that other newspaper chains including McClatchy (MNI) and Lee (LEE) are not out of the woods. Read More »

Posted on: March 19, 2009 – 5:29 am in Old Media, , , ,

Short Sellings Move Back Into Financials, Target Industrials, Tech, And Media

bearShort sellers think financial stocks believe that financial stocks still have further to fall. Based on data as of February 15, short sellers kept a big bet on Citigroup (C). Share short in AIG (AIG) rose 17% to 151 million The short interest in Well Fargo (WFC) was up 11% to 124 million, and shares sold short in Bank of America (BAC) rose 15% to 111 million. Shares sold short in Goldman Sachs (GS) were up 26% to 16 million

Short sellers also made a run at the stocks in large industrial companies. Shares short in GM (GM) rose 9% to 114 million. The short interest in Dow Chemical (DOW) was up 28% to 39 million. Shares short in Corning (GLW) rose rose 33% to 26 million.

Read More »

Posted on: February 26, 2009 – 4:17 am in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (ZLC)(TRP)(LEE)

Sad_clownZale Corporation (ZLC) Loss and withdraws annual forecast. Drops to $5.15 from 52-week high of $30.89.

Rio Tinto (RTP) BHP withdraws takeover bid. Falls to $93.42 from 52-week high of $558.65.

Lee Enterprises (LEE) Newspaper company hit with downgrade. Drops to $.85 from 52-week high of $15.97.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 25, 2008 – 3:59 pm in HI/LOW, , ,

Another Blow To Newspaper Stocks (GHS)(MNI)(GCI)(NYT)

The newspaper industry was hit with another downgrade today, astonishing because almost all of the stocks in the sector are at 52-week lows.

Wachovia cut its ratings on several chains including Gatehouse (GHS), McClatchy (MNI), Gannett (GCI), Lee (LEE), and The New York Times Company (NYT). According to the AP, "Analyst John Janedis expects total ad revenue to fall 10.4 percent in 2008 and 6.5 percent next year."

That kind of fall-off in revenue could be enough to undermine the ability of several of the debt-laden companies in the group to make interest payments.

It is now very likely that several of the companies in the sector will have to begin selling off properties by the end of the year. The firms may not be able to raise enough money to cover the entire amounts they have borrowed. That will leave their lenders hold the bags.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: June 13, 2008 – 8:11 am in Old Media, , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (ABK)(VSE)(LEE)(NOK)(SNCR)

AMBAC (ABK) Brutal sell-off in some financials. S&P cuts some securities covered by the insurer. Down to $1.74 from 52-week high of $89.33.

Verasun Energy (VSE) Corn up, ethanol stocks down. Hits bottom at $6.26 against 52-week high of $17.75.

Lee Enterprises (LEE) Newspaper stocks still tumbling. Falls to $5.50 from 52-week high of $25.18.

Nokia (NOK) iPhone jitters. Sells off to $25.70 from 52-week high of $42.22.

Gatehouse (GHS) Another newspaper stock. Down to $3.36 from 52-week high of $19.64.

Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR)  Loses piece of iPhone business. Beat down to $10.76 from 52-week high of $48.03.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: June 10, 2008 – 2:51 pm in HI/LOW, , , , ,

The 24/7 Wall St. Bankruptcy Odds Watch (AMR)(UAUA)(NWA)(GHS)(DAL)(LHS)(LEH)(CAL)(WB)(F)(MNI)(AIG)

There are the 24/7 Wall St. odds that several companies will have to file for Chapter 11 between now and the end of the year. These will become a permanent part of the website and the list will be updated once a week.

AMR  (AMR)             1 in 2          Lee Enterprises  (LEE)     1 in 15      Ford (F)              1 in 35
UAL  (UAUA)            1 in 4          Lehman  (LEH)                 1 in 25      McClatchy (MNI) 1 in 35
Northwest (NWA)      1 in 5          Continental  (CAL)            1 in 25      AIG (AIG)            1 in 35
Gatehouse  (GHS)     1 in 5          Wachovia  (WB)               1 in 25
Delta  (DAL)              1 in 10        General Motors  (GM)       1 in 30

Read More »

Posted on: June 9, 2008 – 2:25 pm in Turnarounds, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (AAI, HRZ, IAR, LEE, NTGR, PAY, UCBH, VDSI)

Despite the recovery we have seen, many stocks are still hitting 52-week lows.  Some of the names this Friday were as follows, just keep in mind that not all of these actually closed on their lows:

  • AirTran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) traded under the $3.13 lows ($12.65 hi, ouch) late in the day.  Getting financing done at year lows…
  • Horizon Lines Inc. (NYSE: HRZ) down almost 20% to under the $12.38 lows from $36.55 year highs, ouch.  Container shipping and logistics.   
  • Idearc, Inc. (NYSE: IAR) actually touched its 52-week low of $3.40 down 90% from highs.  Who uses Yellow Pages & White Pages any more?  At least they’d make for cool flaming catapult artillery.
  • Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LEE) is an Iowa-based newspaper company.  Farmers too busy growing corn for ethanol to read about how bad ethanol really is.  55 daily newspapers around the country, but real estate ads and advertising slowdown isn’t helping an industry already losing readers. Claims 1.6 million daily and 1.88 million Sunday total circulation. The good news is that shares recovered late in the day after hitting $7.01 (prior range $7.13 to $27.81).
  • Netgear Inc. (NASDAQ; NTGR) after earnings drop under estimates. $16.55 late in day under the $18.15 to $41.33 52-week range.  When I bought my new computer last week with the multi-core processors I didn’t need any new networking equipment either.
  • Verifone (NYSE: PAY) is turning into the Boulevard of broken dreams.  Mark my words, there is value here in "the business" but that means zilch, nothing, and zero as far as whether or not that stock continues to implode. 
  • UCBH Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCBH) down 11% late in day at $6.34 as loss provisions rise and company slashes its targets; under $6.88 to $20.22 range; operates as the bank holding company for United Commercial Bank based in San Francisco with locations in 6 states and spread around Asia to facilitate international clients and trade.
  • Vasco Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) down a second day after revenues miss targets.  Was $9.64 late in day, under the $10.10 to $44.25 52-week trading range.  Quadruple ouch.

As a reminder, stocks that appear on the list of 52-week lows often keep hitting 52-week lows.  Many problems aren’t only one-day events. 

But all tongue in cheek commentary aside, many value managers actually use the 52-week lows list for stock screening candidates as value and turnaround stocks.  Just because a stock is on a low, doesn’t mean value cant be found by some.

Jon C. Ogg
April 25, 2008

Jon Ogg is an editor and producer of the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for 247Wallst.com.  He can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com, and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 25, 2008 – 2:41 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , ,

Another Downgrade For The New York Times

Shares of The New York Times Company (NYT) are off as much as 2.5% today to a 52-week low on another analyst downgrade. Merrill Lynch cut the shares to "sell" from "neutral." The firm also put a "sell" rating on McClatchy (MNI) and Lee Enterprises (LEE), two other newspaper stocks.

The research call is late, very late. It has been evident for almost two years that falling print advertising was destorying the financial future of newspapers. Most have onlne editions, but they often produce little more than a few percent of overall revenue at major chains

The question now is where the newspaper industry will turn. It could being to cut circulation in a bid to save paper and distribution costs. It takes the risk that the readers will not move to the online version of the paper to get their news.

The other option is to begin to sharply cut the salaries of newspaper employees. Most papers have unions, but the reality of the crisis is not lost on them. Lower salaries would save some jobs. For now.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: September 17, 2007 – 10:25 am in Analyst Calls, , ,

Newspaper Carnage Continues, But…. (NWS, DJ, TRB, MNI, GHS, JRN, NYT, GCI, SSP, BLC, LEE )

There has been a solid recovery in newspaper and media plays in recent weeks, for some obvious merger reasons.  But the continuously deteriorating fundamentals in the sector lend a credence that the sector is just getting a reprieve that is masking the obvious trend.

Despite the mini-rally seen of late in newspaper stocks, Goldman Sachs remains unchanged and suggests selling into strength in the newspaper sector.  The purchase of Tribune (TRB) at 10-times EBITDA by Sam Zell and the major premium buyout offer from News Corp. (NWS) to Dow Jones (DJ) are fueling the speculative fire for more deals in the sector. Goldman thinks the ad revenues in Q2 will be down in the 5% range for newspapers, which is the second worse performance since the recession impacted Q1 2002.

What is interesting is that Goldman notes that there ‘undoubtedly will be further consolidation’ in the sector, but expresses a ‘remain underweight’ stance because of downward revenue trends, operating margin pressure, and downward earnings revision bias.  It also notes that valuations are not enticing for a declining fundamental basis.

So how far off of lows are these companies? 

Company (Ticker)        Price Today    52-Week Range
Gannett (GCI)                   $58.75         $51.65-$63.50
McClatchy (MNI)               $27.90         $27.42-$45.29
EW Scripps (SSP)            $46.00        $40.86-$53.39
New York Times (NYT)    $25.85        $21.54-$26.90
Belo Corp. (BLC)              $22.30         $14.93-$22.94
Lee Entrprs. (LEE)            $24.92        $22.98-$25.13
Journal Comms. (JRN)    $13.80        $10.05-$14.00

If you read media publications in the sector, the trend has been that major metro publications are the ones that have been experiencing the rapid drop-off.  The rural and small city papers is where the mergers have been and where the strength has been.  It isn’t so much that these areas are just full of non-webby bumpkins because that isn’t the case.  It’s just that the farther and farther you get away from major population centers the live and daily information becomes decentralized and it easier to keep it focused in a newpaper and ‘weeklies’ type of local publication.  That lends credibility to GateHouse Media Inc. (GHS-NYSE), still a fairly recent IPO.

With some of the trends continuing and an economy that is slowing, it is hard to fall back in love with the sector.  But there has been so much damage and the ‘undoubted consolidation’ just makes it harder and harder to consider putting new funds to work in the companies that have not recovered.  Sure, there will be more carnage in the sector and there will probably be some extra erosion in the stocks of the ones that have less value. 

A year from now it is likely we’ll still be discussing the carnage in newpaper and print media trends.  But we might be discussing the trends of companies that have either merged or been taken private, or at least fewer public companies.  With an election in 2008, its still a toss-up if newspapers will stabilize or if the new-media will steal away so much that even a larger market may not help.  If you have read our work frequently you will probably recallreferences to "Less Bad Is Good," and this may be a trend to watch for (or maybe just hope for) inthe sector.  Perhaps digital paper will take newspapers to a new realm.

The verdict is still out, for now.

Jon C. Ogg
June 6, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: June 6, 2007 – 11:09 am in Media, , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Mania After Dow Jones & News Corp. Merger Talk

Stock Tickers: DJ, NWS, RTRSY, TOC, NYT, WPO, SSP, MNI, BLC, LEE, GHS, XFML

It looks like almost all media stocks are running on David Faber’s report that Dow Jones (DJ-NYSE) is now a target of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (NWS-NYSE).  Here are the companies running:

Reuters (RTRSY), Thomson (TOC), New York Times (NYT), Washington Post (WPO), EW Scripps (SSP), and McClatchy (MNI). Even some of the second and third tier names are benefiting from the move to the likes of Belo Corp. (BLC), Lee Enterprises (LEE), and GateHouse Media (GHS).  The effects could be far-reaching enough that it even benefits the recent Xinhua Finance Media (XFML) for Chinese financial news coverage that recently came public.

This is a big “IF,” but if this deal does occur and if it is allowed to go through and all the parties that be agree to terms, then this deal would be a true game changer.  This could create an entirely new consolidated environment, and it create many other deals if this comes to pass. 

Jon C. Ogg
May 1, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 1, 2007 – 10:36 am in Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Old Media, , , , , , , , , , , ,