Morgan Stanley Adjusts Estimates For Viacom, Time Warner And Starz

Morgan Stanley on Tuesday downgraded Viacom, Inc. VIAB to Underweight and Time Warner Inc TWX to Equal-weight. The firm also upgraded Starz STRZA to Overweight.

The rating changes were made as analysts led by Benjamin Swinburne published updated financial models for media companies.

For Viacom, the firm lowered its revenue estimates for fiscal Q1 2015 from $3.525 billion to $3.360 billion, a decrease of 4.7 percent. FY 2015 and FY 2016 estimates were each cut 2.2 percent to $14.002 billion and $14.442 billion, respectively.

The firm cut EPS estimates for fiscal Q1 2015 from $1.34 to $1.27. The EPS estimate for FY 2015 was cut 3.9 percent to $5.76 and for FY 2016 it was cut 3.2 percent to $6.36.

Viacom recently traded at $65.89, down 3.2 percent.

For Time Warner, the firm raised its revenue estimates for Q4 2014 from $7.575 billion to $7.658 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent. 2015 and 2016 estimates were each cut approximately 1 percent to $28.719 billion and $30.585 billion, respectively.

The firm cut EPS estimates for Q4 2014 from $1.01 to $0.93. The EPS estimate for 2015 was cut 1.2 percent to $4.72 and for 2016 it was cut 0.5 percent to $5.84.

Time Warner recently traded at $80.84, down 2.8 percent.

For Starz, the firm lowered its revenue estimates for Q4 2014 from $457.1 million to $ 436.8 million. 2015 and 2016 estimates were cut from to $1.759 billion to $1.724 billion and from $1.815 billion to $1.777 billion, respectively.

The firm cut EPS estimates for Q4 2014 from $0.62 to $0.52. The EPS estimate for 2015 remained unchanged at $2.34 and for 2016 it was cut from $2.63 to $2.60.

Starz recently traded at $28.98, up 1.4 percent.