Meredith Corporation is slated to release first-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Nov 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter under review is pegged at a loss of 32 cents, against earnings of 69 cents per share reported in the year-ago quarter. We note that the Zacks Consensus Estimate has remained stable in the past 30 days. The company has been struggling with its dismal bottom-line performance for quite some time now. 

 

Nevertheless, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is $747 million, which portrays a significant improvement from $392.8 million recorded in the year-ago period.

 

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

 

 

 

Meredith is gaining from top-line growth, driven by strong performance in all its segments. Going forward, management expects revenues at National Media Group to be $540-$550 million for first-quarter fiscal 2019 and sales at Local Media Group to be $200-$210 million. In fiscal 2019, Meredith projects total revenues of $3-$3.2 billion, up from $2.2 million in fiscal 2018. Also, the company is likely to witness record digital revenues for the National Media Group, backed by People.com, owing to higher traffic.

 

Further, the company has been actively pursuing strategic acquisitions, such as that of KPLR-TV, to boost growth.  Additionally, the company acquired Time Inc. to create a leading media company. Meredith expects to generate cost synergies of more than $500 million annually in the first two years of the combined firm’s operations. Other notable acquisitions include Turner’s broadcast assets WPCH in Atlanta, Shape magazine and the digital assets of Shape, Natural Health, and Fit Pregnancy brands from American Media Inc. 

 

The company is focused on restructuring actions. Meredith recently inked a deal to sell its media brand Time to Salesforce.com Inc.’s founders. Earlier, the company offloaded Meredith Xcelerated Marketing to Accenture. Furthermore, the company divested its Time Inc. UK and Golf media brands, and announced plans to sell the TIME, Sports Illustrated, Money, Fortune and affiliated media brands. Meredith is also exploring options for the sale of its equity investment in Viant. 

 

 

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Meredith is likely to beat estimates this quarter. A stock needs to have both — a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP — for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

 

Though Meredith carries a Zacks Rank #3, an Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.

 

 

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 Hain Celestial Group (HAIN Quick QuoteHAIN - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +5.66% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

 

Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS Quick QuoteNUS - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.21% and a Zacks Rank #3.

 

Turning Points Brands (TPB Quick QuoteTPB - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +8.74% and a Zacks Rank #3.

 

 

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