Gray Television Tops Q4 Backed By Cyclical Growth In Political Ad Revenue; Updates On Projects - Gray Television (NYSE:GTN)

Gray Television, Inc GTN reported fourth-quarter FY22 revenue growth of 49% year-on-year to $1.07 billion, beating the consensus of $1.04 billion primarily due to the cyclical increase in political advertising revenue.
Broadcasting revenue grew 49.6% Y/Y to $1.04 billion. Core advertising revenue increased by 13% Y/Y, and retransmission consent revenue increased by 20% Y/Y.
Broadcast Cash Flow Less Cash Corporate Expenses was $464 million, up from $230 million a year ago.
EPS of $1.88 beat the consensus of $1.78.
"Looking ahead, we anticipate that our television stations and production companies will maintain revenues at a level generally flat with recent years should macroeconomic conditions, particularly in local markets, slow during 2023. In addition, we anticipate that our retransmission revenues in the first quarter of 2023 will increase by approximately 10% to 11% over the fourth quarter of 2022 as rates increases continue to outpace negative subscriber trends," the company said.
"We currently anticipate that construction on the Assembly Studios portion of the development and much of the infrastructure for the entire project will be completed in the summer of 2023. At that time, we expect that the new facilities will begin generating revenue from both long-term and short-term leases of soundstages and related facilities to various content producers. Also at that time, Gray intends to pause its funding of construction projects at Atlanta Assembly to evaluate carefully certain opportunities to maximize the long-term value of this unique real estate investment."
Outlook: Gray Television sees Q1 revenue of $777 million - $796 million.
Price Action: GTN shares closed higher by 1.60% at $12.73 on Thursday.

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