Overview

* Gray Media ( GTN ) Q2 revenue falls 7% yr/yr, but beats analysts' expectations

* Net loss of $69 mln due to cyclical decrease in political advertising revenue

* Adjusted EBITDA declines, impacted by reduced political advertising revenue

Outlook

* Company expects Q3 core advertising revenue to decline due to effectsOlympics in year-ago period

* Gray forecasts Q3 political advertising revenue at $6 mln to $7 mln

* Company anticipates full-year interest expense of $460 mln

* Gray sees full-year capital expenditures excluding Assembly Atlanta at $85 mln to $90 mln

Result Drivers

* POLITICAL ADVERTISING - Revenue decreased by 81% due to the off-year in the political advertising cycle

* NETWORK AFFILIATION LOSS - Non-cash impairment of $28 mln due to non-renewal of CBS network affiliation at WANF station

* COST OPTIMIZATION - Efforts to optimize cost structure and improve local content offerings, particularly in sports broadcasting

Key Details

Metric Beat/Mis Actual Consensu

s s

Estimate

Q2 Beat $772 mln $766.30

Revenue mln (6

Analysts

)

Q2 Net Miss -$69 mln -$34.60

Income mln (5

Analysts

)

Q2 Miss -$35 mln -$29.60

Pretax mln (4

Profit Analysts

)

Q2 $82 mln

Operatin

g income

Analyst Coverage

* The current average analyst rating on the shares is "buy" and the breakdown of recommendations is 3 "strong buy" or "buy", 2 "hold" and 1 "sell" or "strong sell"

* The average consensus recommendation for the broadcasting peer group is "hold."

* Wall Street's median 12-month price target for Gray Media Inc ( GTN ) is $6.00, about 31% above its August 7 closing price of $4.14

* The stock recently traded at 4 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 8 three months ago

Press Release:

(This story was created using Reuters automation and AI based on LSEG and company data. It was checked and edited by a Reuters journalist prior to publication.)