According to Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall, Disney selling Hulu is no longer just an alternative counter-theory, existing on the outer fringes of the broader, rampant forward-looking speculation regarding Hulu’s fate. It’s evolved into a mainstream thesis. “Ask 10 investors if they think Disney will sell Hulu, and we think ~7 will answer, ‘yes,'” Cahall wrote in a Wednesday morning investor note.
After a record year in 2022, look out because cord cutting is expected to accelerate in 2023, according to Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall. Cahall calculates that the pay TV universe lost 5.175 million subscribers in 2022, a 6% drop. And he says it will get even worse in 2023 and beyond. Previously the industry’s biggest losses came in 2020 when 4.651 million consumers dropped their subscriptions.
“We think Bob Iger is returning to Disney to make big changes. Spinning [off] ESPN/ABC is the best path forward, and we see it as a reasonably probable late-’23 event.” Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall opened a Tuesday report on The Walt Disney Co., led again by Iger as CEO, with a big call that is certain to cause debate.
Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall, a long-time Comcast bear, upgraded the cable company but cited growing problems at its NBCUniversal unit as tough times hit the media business. “We’re more aggressively cutting numbers at NBCU to bake in 7% annual sub declines, weakness in entertainment scatter ad pricing and peak losses at Peacock,” he said in a report.
Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall has issued his second downgrade for Paramount Global in less than a month, rating the company’s shares as “underweight” and cutting his stock price target from $19 to $13. In his earlier Paramount downgrade on Oct. 4, Cahall slashed his price target from $40 a share to $19, noting that Wells Fargo had become “increasingly worried about the linear ecosystem cross media.”
Linear TV ad revenue and pricing — until now largely immune to cord-cutting and the shift of viewers to streaming — is getting close to a tipping point with Netflix and Disney Plus entering the ad-supported video business, Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall says in a new report.
Exclusives
Netflix‘s foray into the advertising world will take time to build but will eventually lead to more subscribers and higher earnings, according to a new report from Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall. He estimates AVOD will account for 30% of its subscribers.
Despite price increases and trouble in Russia putting pressure on Netflix’s first quarter subscriber count, analyst Steven Cahall of Wells Fargo has raised his estimate for how many customers Netflix will add when it reports its vital statistics on Tuesday. Based on data on downloads, monthly active users and daily active users, Cahall expects Netflix to add more than 2.9 million subscribers in the quarter, up from his previous estimate of 2.5 million.
“Disney+ is now at a $150 billion discount to Netflix based on our deconstruction, so we’re aggressive buyers,” Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall said however.
Content is king in the direct-to-consumer streaming wars with The Walt Disney Co. in the lead and Steve Cahall, analyst at Wells Fargo, sees more deals like the proposed WarnerMedia-Discovery merger on the horizon as media companies seek enough ammunition to compete.
Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall initiated coverage of the cable distribution sector on Tuesday, citing the businesses’ strength in broadband service, but joining the growing chorus of analysts calling for Comcast to spin off its NBCUniversal programming unit. Cahall, who already covers cable programmers, initiated the sector with an “overweight” rating on Cable One and Charter; “equal weight” for Altice USA and “underweight” for Comcast.
“Smaller-scale services like Starz and AMC Networks’ might be better off folded into larger platforms,” writes Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall.
Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall raised his outlook on ViacomCBS Thursday from “Underweight” to “Equal Weight” and increased his 12-month price target on the stock to $30 per share from $19 per share, citing the programmers aggressive moves in the streaming video space.
