Versant, the cable spinoff Comcast didn't want, reported third-quarter earnings of 34 cents a share. ,Analysts surveyed by Zacks expected 3 cents., That's not a beat. That's a hostage situation for the analysts' spreadsheets.
Four analysts. Three cents. Somewhere, four professionals with finance degrees looked at a company that owns CNBC, MS NOW, USA and Golf Channel and typed "3."
,Total revenue was $1.59 billion, down 4% from the prior year., ,Adjusted EBITDA fell 7% to $353 million., Both numbers went down. The headline says "growth."
The growth is real, technically. ,Platforms brought in $245 million, up 9.6 percent., That's Fandango, the website you open once every four months to learn the movie is sold out.
,Fandango ticketing hit its highest level since the pandemic., The bar was the pandemic. Versant cleared it. Pop the champagne, then ask who still buys a $19 ticket to watch a superhero argue with a CGI wall.
Management also reaffirmed guidance. ,Revenue of $6.2 billion to $6.45 billion., That range is $250 million wide. You could lose a Fandango division in there and still call it on track.
,Shares rose about 1% premarket, to $32.70., One percent. A quarter that crushed estimates and the market responded like a man being handed a flyer.
Retail traders will read "beat" and load calls by lunch. They'll hold through the next print, when the traditional pay-TV business keeps shrinking at the same pace it always does.
The chart doesn't care about Fandango. The chart doesn't care about WNBA viewership. The chart has never watched Golf Channel and neither have you.
Versant beat expectations by 31 cents because the expectations were written by people who also think a Tuesday is a personality.
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
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