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Fox Corp. (FOXA) to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Fox Corporation (FOXA - Free Report) is set to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 results on Aug 4.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has decreased 1.8% to 56 cents per share over the past 30 days, indicating decline of 9.6% from the year-ago quarter.

The consensus mark for revenues is currently pegged at $2.74 billion, suggesting 13.4% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.

Notably, Fox has a stellar surprise history. It beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 86.1%.

Let’s see how things have shaped up prior to this announcement.

Factors to Consider

Lower yet recovering ad demand and spending boosted by resumption of certain sports events are expected to have impacted Fox’s fiscal fourth-quarter advertising revenues.

On Mar 18, Fox Corporation announced a new and expanded media rights agreement with the National Football League (NFL) for the next 11 years through the 2033 season.

Fox’s portfolio strength across entertainment, sports and news content is expected to drive the company’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 results. The company’s strong offerings have been driving user growth and this trend is likely to have continued in the to-be-reported quarter.

Moreover, Fox’s investments in expanding its network have been aiding ratings growth, a trend which is likely to have continued in the to-be-reported quarter.

In fact, in the to-be-reported quarter, Fox’s News Digital network surpassed all news brands including CNN in total multiplatform minutes in April, totaling more than 3.5 billion, according to Comscore. Besides, the FOX News Mobile App logged 7.4 million unique visitors in April.

Fox reported over 89 million total multiplatform unique visitors and around 1.7 billion total multiplatform views for Fox News Digital, outperforming peers such as The New York Times (NYT - Free Report) , Washington Post, USA Today, NBCNews.com, and ABCNews.com.

On other social platforms like Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Youtube, FOX News topped among other news outlets with over 240 million views in April, up 54% from the prior month.

However, to stay ahead in competition, the company is spending massively on buying sports rights, which is expected to have weighed on the company’s bottom line growth in the to-be- reported quarter.

Key Developments in Q4

On May 5, Fox announced reaching an agreement through its subsidiary to acquire Outkick Media, LLC, a digital media platform founded and led by Clay Travis, and related assets. Further, Outkick is in an exclusive marketing agreement with FOX’s partner FanDuel and serves as a significant source of sports wagering referrals.

On Apr 6, Fox Corporation announced filing a suit against Flutter to enforce its rights to acquire an 18.6% ownership interest in FanDuel Group — an American sports betting brand — for the same price that Flutter paid for that interest in December 2020. The suit was filed as an arbitration before JAMS in New York by consent of the parties.

What Our Model Says

According to the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here.

Fox has an Earnings ESP of -8.73% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stock to Consider

Here is a company you may want to consider, as our model shows that it has the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in its upcoming release:

Avnet, Inc. (AVT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +9.82% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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