quarterly reports

Netflix delivered a mixed set of results for the first quarter on Monday, edging Wall Street analysts’ estimates for earnings per share but falling short in other key categories. The consensus expectation of Wall Street analysts was for earnings per share of $2.86, revenue of $8.18 billion and a gain of 2.26 million net paid subscribers. Netflix reported EPS of $2.88, revenue of $8.16 billion and an increase of $1.75 million subscribers.

The increase to $296 million is powered by an advertising revenue boost from its digital properties.

4Q revenue of $116.1 million, which includes a $3.3 million one-time non-cash adjustment, was in the middle of the implied 4Q guidance range. Excluding the adjustment, 4Q revenue of $119.4 million would have been at the high end of the implied guidance range for the quarter.

Across quarterly earnings calls, station groups praised strength in local advertising while macroeconomic headwinds and uncertainties bedeviled the national side and uniform impatience with vMVPD negotiations emerged.

The increase to $1.49 billion was driven by strong political advertising revenue and increased digital revenue, offset somewhat by a decline in core advertising.

Virtual MVPD FuboTV in 2022 hit the milestone of reaching $1 billion in global annual revenue for the first time, while recording subscriber and advertising revenue gains in the fourth quarter. During Monday’s earnings call executives also reported encouraging early churn trends after a recent price hike, and rebuffed concerns over increased sports competition from fellow vMVPD YouTube TV.

The increase to $917 million is helped by 9% growth in political revenue compared to 2018, the last nonpresidential year.

The increase to $433 million was powered by political advertising and increased distribution revenue. For the company as a whole, total 4Q revenue was $681 million, an increase of 9.4%, or $58.7 million.

The increase to $1.1 billion was driven primarily by the primarily due to the cyclical increase in political advertising revenue.

Warner Bros. Discovery revenue fell 11% to $11 billion (or a drop of 9% when foreign exchange fluctuations are excluded) mostly due to advertising softness and tough studio comparisons. EBITDA also tumbled 5% to $2.603. Shares in the media giant shed about 3% in after-hours trading. On the plus side for the company, direct-to-consumer losses narrowed and free cash flow improved, with those metrics among those the company is highlighting as it forges ahead with a massive restructuring.

The increase to $1.5 billion was driven by a strong World Cup performance, advertising revenue growth of 14% in the U.S., and a full quarter of ViX streaming service subscription revenue.

AMC Networks posted good fourth-quarter results, with total revenue rising 20% over the prior-year quarter to $964.5 million, while earnings per share jumped almost fivefold to $2.52. Wall Street analysts had expected revenue of $947.8 million and EPS of $1.20. Ad revenue in the U.S. fell 12% to $206 million, with the company blaming the slide on lower linear ratings, softness in the broader ad market and fewer original programming episodes during the quarter.

Paramount+ added 9.9 million subscribers last quarter to 56 million, grew revenue 81% year-on-year as streaming saw higher costs and stepper losses widen in a mixed quarter for parent Paramount Global. Total revenue was about flat with lower ad sales. Profit fell sharply. The stock dipped in pre-market trading Thursday.

Routinely pounded by Wall Street after every earnings report going back six quarters, Roku finally won one Wednesday when it reported a better-than-expected 5% year-over-year surge in fourth-quarter ad revenue to $731.3 million. The consensus forecasts of equity analysts pegged Roku’s overall revenue to come in at around $803 million, but Roku delivered total 4Q sales of $867.1 million, roughly flat with the fourth quarter of 2021.

The company reported total revenue in the quarter ending December 31 of $4.61 billion, up 4% from the year-earlier period, and earnings of 48 cents a share. Affiliate fee revenues rose 1% thanks to 6% growth at the Television unit. Ad revenue climbed 4%, no mean feat in a tough economic climate, mostly due to the World Cup in Qatar and strong NFL results at Fox Sports. Other boosts came from political spending at the company’s local stations and growth for streaming service Tubi.

The past year of rising interest rates and falling stock prices has shaken Big Tech, along with the San Francisco Bay region it dominates. Now, tens of thousands of layoffs from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and dozens of other companies have made it clear: The golden age is over. Speeches about austerity have replaced the free-flowing stock grants and free sushi lunches.

Amazon said it earned $300 million, or 3 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. Industry analysts were expecting the Seattle-based company to earn 17 cents a share. Amazon’s 4Q profits represent a significant drop from the $14.3 billion it posted during the same period in 2021, when the company had a nearly $12 billion gain from its investment in Rivian Automotive. Shares in Amazon.com Inc. fell 4% in after-hours trading.

While overall revenue grew at Google’s parent, advertising revenue fell by nearly 4% and revenue at YouTube declined 8% year-over-year. That appeared to spook investors, who sent the company’s stock lower in after-hours trading. The company said it earned $13.62 billion, or $1.05 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s down 34% from $20.64 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

This is the third consecutive quarter of revenue decline for the tech giant, which laid off 11,000 workers, or about 13% of its workforce, in November. CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed the layoffs on aggressive hiring during the pandemic.

The maker of Snapchat also swung to a loss in the latest quarter and projected that its sales would decline.

Comcast Corporation topped Wall Street earnings expectations for the fourth quarter of 2022 on Thursday, posting adjusted earnings per share of 82 cents, on revenue of $30.55 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected the NBCUniversal parent’s adjusted EPS figure to come in at 77 cents per share, while revenue was expected to be $30.32 billion.

Netflix beat forecasts for subscriber gains for the fourth quarter and also edged revenue estimates, but pressure on earnings per share reflected broader challenges in the streaming business.

Vizio swung to a profit in the third-quarter as gains at its Platform Plus business more than offset a drop in device sales. Net income was $2 million, or 1 cent a share, compared to a net loss of $18.6 million, or 10 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 26% to $435 million.

The increase to $803 million is driven by 28% growth in political revenue compared to 2018, the last nonpresidential year.

Measurement company Comscore reported a larger-than-expected loss in the third quarter as it took big write-offs and charges. Comscore’s third quarter net loss was $52.4 million, or 60 cents a share, compared to a loss of $2 million, or 2 cents a share, a year ago. Contributing to the red ink were a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $45 million and restructuring costs of $5.6 million.

The media giant reported powerhouse streaming numbers in its fiscal fourth quarter, with flagship service Disney+ surging to 164.2 million global subscribers, but some key financial metrics fell short of Wall Street expectations. Total revenue of $20.15 billion in the period ending Oct. 1 increased 9% over the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share, meanwhile, tumbled 19% to 30 cents on a diluted basis. Wall Street analysts’ consensus forecast for revenue was $21.44 billion and EPS was 56 cents.

The increase to $378 million was powered by climbing political advertising and increased retransmission consent revenue. For the company as a whole, total 3Q revenue was $612 million, an increase of 10%, or $56.9 million.

The increase to $1.27 billion was driven by strong political advertising revenue and healthy year-over-year increases in distribution, digital and other revenue, offset somewhat by a decline in core advertising.

The increase to $241 million is powered by an advertising revenue boost from its digital properties, which were aided by its purchase of 365 Digital during the fourth quarter of 2021.

AMC Networks grew streaming subscribers by 44% in the third quarter, but saw revenue decline as advertising slumped by 10%, causing profit to fall sharply.

The increase to $909 million was driven by a big increase in political advertising as well as higher retransmission consent money.

Total revenue came in at $9.823 million and net losses totaled $2.8 billion, including $1.9 billion of pre-tax amortization from acquisition-related intangible assets and $1.5 billion in restructuring charges. The company reported 94.9 million direct-to-consumer subscribers, across HBO and the Discovery+ and HBO Max streaming services. It fell short of Wall Street expectations due to a slowdown in advertising and merger-related restructuring charges.

After discounting comparisons that included the Diamond Sports Group (RSNs), which was “deconsolidated,” total revenues increased 5% to $843 million in the prior year period and media revenues also increased 5% from $795 million.

Fox Corp. rode a surge in political ad spending and continued growth in streaming in its fiscal first quarter, posting financial results above Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Adjusted net income came in at $1.21 per share, up a dime from the year-ago quarter and well ahead of analysts’ consensus forecast for $1.12. Total revenue of $3.19 billion, up 5% from a year ago, also cleared the bar. Fox credited a surge in political advertising and the continued growth of Tubi, its ad-supported streaming service.

Tokyo-based Sony’s July-September profit totaled 264 billion yen, or $1.8 billion, up from 213 billion yen in the previous year, mainly on strong demand for its music and movies, prompting the Japanese entertainment and electronics giant to raise its annual sales and profit forecasts.

Big Tech companies took a heavy beating last week, to the tune of more than $255 billion in lost market capitalization that’s helped make a bad year even worse for the once-beloved sector. The five tech giants that posted results have now lost a combined $3 trillion in market cap on the year, according to Dow Jones Market Data, showing that Big Tech isn’t immune to the macroeconomic storm sweeping up the broader stock market.

The company on Thursday reported revenue for the three months that ended Sept. 30 of $127.1 billion, boosted by Amazon’s Prime Day, a major sales event for dues-paying Prime members that was pushed back to July this year from June the year before. That helped fuel Amazon’s revenue growth of 15% over last year, an improvement from the prior two quarters when revenue grew by only 7% — the slowest in nearly two decades. Still, those numbers came in short of forecasts by analysts surveyed by FactSet, who were expecting third-quarter revenue of $127.4 billion.