Media Stocks to Watch for Earnings on Jul 26: SIRI, TGNA

HAS SIRI TGNA

The Q2 earnings season is moving full steam ahead with multiple reports lined up for release this week. As of Jul 22, 25.2% of the S&P 500 cohort has reported their quarterly numbers. Despite some positive earnings reports from different corners, the overall picture is not too different from that observed in the past few quarters.

According to our latest earnings trends report, earnings growth is in the negative territory (1.1%) with six of the 16 Zacks sectors reporting earnings decline. As expected, the Energy sector has been the biggest drag with earnings contracting 70.1% so far.

In the wake of the challenging conditions, it is no surprise that nine out of the 16 Zacks sectors are projected to record negative earnings growth in Q2. The overall earnings growth for Q2 is expected to be -3.4% (for the S&P 500 players). In the event of the forecast materializing, Q2 will be the fifth successive quarter of negative earnings growth.

Meanwhile, the widely diversified Consumer Discretionary sector has seen an encouraging start with earnings growing at 14.4% as of Jul 22, courtesy strong reports from the likes of Hasbro Inc. (HAS - Free Report) . In spite of this, the sector is expected to end Q2 with earnings growth of (0.6%).

Over 950 companies, including 189 S&P 500 members, are scheduled to report their quarterly numbers this week which will throw further light on the earnings performance of this sector.

Let’s take a look at the earnings forecast for two key media players, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI - Free Report) and TEGNA Inc. (TGNA - Free Report) , scheduled to report on Jul 26.

Sirius XM Holdings posted in-line earnings in each of the last four quarters. According to our quantitative model, a company needs the right combination of two key ingredients – a positive Earnings ESPand a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better – to increase its odds of an earnings surprise. The company has an earnings ESP of 0.0% and a Zacks Rank #3. The combination makes an earnings beat unlikely in the second quarter (read more: Can Sirius XM Pull a Surprise this Earnings Season?).

TEGNA Inc., based in MCLEAN, VA, maintains a portfolio of media and digital businesses. Things, however, appear bleak for the company in Q2. Even though TEGNA has a Zacks Rank #3, its Earnings ESP of -2.04% makes an earnings beat unlikely. The disappointing earnings ESP is because the Most Accurate estimate is pegged at 48 cents while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is a penny higher.

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