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Fox Corporation (FOXA) Q1 Earnings & Revenues Top Estimates

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Fox Corporation (FOXA - Free Report) reported first-quarter fiscal 2021 adjusted earnings of $1.11 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11%. The figure, however, decreased 5.9% year over year.

Revenues were up 12% year over year to $3.05 billion. Also, the figure surpassed the consensus mark by 4.6%.

Affiliate fees (545% of revenues) rose 8.7% to $1.67 billion. Meanwhile, advertising (37% of revenues) revenues increased 16.6% to $1.13 billion. Other revenues (8% of revenues) were up 15.3% from the year-ago quarter’s levels to $248 million.

Fox became a standalone, publicly-traded company on Mar 21, 2019, following the merger of Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.

Standalone Fox’s portfolio comprises Twenty-First Century Fox’s news, sports and broadcast businesses. These include FOX News, FOX Business, FOX Broadcasting Company (the FOX Network), FOX Sports, FOX Television Stations Group, sports cable networks like FS1, FS2, FOX Deportes and Big Ten Network as well as certain other assets.

Fox Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Fox Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Fox Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Fox Corporation Quote

Top-Line Details

Cable Network Programming (46.5% of revenues) revenues increased 6.9% year over year to $1.42 billion. Under the segment, Advertising revenues increased 4%, primarily on continued digital monetization at FOX News Media, and the favorable impact of additional live events and studio shows at FOX Sports in the reported quarter against the postponements and cancellations in the prior-year quarter due to COVID-19.

Revenues from Affiliate fees climbed 5% year over year driven by contractual price increases, including the impact of distribution agreement renewals.

Other revenues increased 49% on a year-over-year basis, on higher FOX Nation subscription revenues and return of sports sublicensing revenues and pay-per-view boxing.

Television (51.9% of revenues) revenues increased 17.1% from the year-ago quarter’s figure to $1.58 billion. Under the segment, Advertising revenues improved 22% year over year primarily on a recovering base market at the FOX Television Stations, continued growth at Tubi and strong pricing at FOX Entertainment.

Affiliate fees and other revenues jumped 14% mainly fueled by the increases in fees from third-party FOX affiliates, and higher average rates at the company’s owned and operated television stations.

Operating Details

In first-quarter fiscal 2022, operating expenses flared up 34.5% year over year to $1.57 billion. As a percentage of revenues, operating expenses shot up 860 basis points (bps) to 51.6%.

Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses rose 7% year over year to $415 million. As a percentage of revenues, SG&A expenses contracted 70 bps to 13.6%.

The total adjusted EBITDA decreased 8.7% year over year to $1.06 billion. The EBITDA margin shrunk 800 bps to 34.9%.

Balance Sheet

As of Sep 30, 2021, Fox had $5.41 billion in cash and cash equivalents compared with $5.89 billion as of Jun 30, 2021.

Long-term debt as of Sep 30, 2021 was $7.20 billion, which remained flat sequentially.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Fox currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) , Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) and Perficient (PRFT - Free Report) , all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The long-term earnings growth rate for Applied Materials, Advanced Micro Devices and Perficient is currently pegged at 19.4%, 44.6% and 18%, respectively.

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