Roku was a champ. Lionsgate surged and Netflix jumped. Tech shares went bananas in 2023. Big media shares had a combined 12 months of transition dominated by Hollywood strikes with linear tv declines and streaming losses.
Paramount fell. Disney and Fox have been principally flat on the 12 months. Giants Comcast and Sony, which each produce other companies like broadband or video games and music, each had good runs. Warner Bros Discovery gained a bit. All are pushing for profitability in streaming and progress there’ll affect how the shares carry out in 2024.
Relatively talking, 2023 was an actual bonanza in contrast with a really dismal 2022 when solely two – that’s two – media shares rose for the 12 months: WWE (now a part of TKO Group) and Nexstar.
It was a surprisingly good 2023 for shares total with the S&P 500 closing up greater than 24% for the 12 months. Investors shrugged off excessive rates of interest and inflation, recession fears, threats of a authorities shutdown, a quick banking disaster and worldwide strife, turning round a 12 months initially anticipated to be moderately glum for markets.
Tech particularly introduced the warmth, fueled largely by an AI frenzy. The well-known FAANG group of shares — Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet) — has morphed into The Magnificent Seven. Newly coined this 12 months by an analyst (from the film), it’s Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Invidia and Tesla. This gang contributed considerably to total positive factors. Shares of adjoining tech from Snap to Spotify additionally rallied.
Exhibitors have been break up to decrease amid angst at 2024’s field workplace prospects. Broadcast shares fell, with promoting mushy however set for a political tsunami.
And the 12 months 12 months wrapped with a flourish of M&A chatter that hasn’t but however may additionally buoy shares in 2024. It doesn’t damage that the Federal Reserve indicated it might lastly reduce rates of interest in 2024 after 11 hikes over the past two years.
A Closer Look
Roku was king of media in 2023, up 119%.
Remember again in March when the corporate worriedly introduced that it had 1 / 4 of its money at Silicon Valley Bank, which worn out within the greatest financial institution collapse since 2008. Disaster was averted when the FDIC agreed to totally assure all deposits and Roku took it from there. The enterprise is benefitting as tv advert {dollars} shift from linear to digital, because it expands abroad and because it sells a lot of branded Smart TVs. May be a possible takeover goal.
Disney, the one showbiz inventory within the 30-member DJIA, nosed up barely for the 12 months. That’s nicely off its excessive for the 12 months of $110 in January, when the market was flushed with enthusiasm at CEO Bob Iger’s return. But these are difficult occasions with linear tv in regular decline, streaming nonetheless within the pink and Disney going through a string of field workplace underachievers.
Iger notably acquired the remainder of Hulu from Comcast, paying a beforehand agreed upon $8.6 billion minimal. It could owe extra as each side have groups working to ascertain a valuation. He’s waffled a bit on entertaining presents for ABC and linear networks and is in search of a strategic companion for ESPN forward of an eventual streaming launch. Disney is reportedly doing a take care of Reliance for its property in India.
Wall Streeters hope the brand new 12 months will carry an replace on succession planning, and maybe on an NBA contract renewal. One analyst says he’s been getting a lot of shopper calls on Disney lately. “They’ll say things like, ‘I used to own Disney. I just feel like it could be an interesting stock. There are so many moving parts right now, could you just get me up to speed?’”
It appears to be like like the corporate will enter 2024 going through a proxy struggle with activist investor Nelson Peltz, who needs two seats on the board — for himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Peltz launched the same adversarial marketing campaign final 12 months however backed off in February earlier than a showdown on the annual assembly.
Warner Bros Discovery is up about 10% however off its excessive and from the $24 it traded at when Discovery and Warner Media merged in April 2022. CEO David Zaslav is targeted on boosting money movement and paying down the corporate’s huge debt, which stood at $45.3 billion on the finish of the September quarter. Investors didn’t love that quarter, spooked particularly by a glum promoting outlook.
The advert market appears to have entered a brand new part not helpful for legacy media, which is the lack of pricing energy, says one analyst. “Historically, as linear TV audiences shrunk, big companies could offset that by raising the prices they charged advertisers for the remaining viewers. In the last year, that game seems to have failed,” except it’s sports activities.
With the April 8 two-year anniversary of the Discovery-Warner Media merger, WBD can discover offers and not using a massive tax penalty. Zaslav has had conversations with Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and CEO Bob Bakish a couple of doable deal. Warners may be a vendor however that’s laborious too, partly because of its enormous steady of legacy cable networks.
Warner Bros Studio and HBO “are good businesses with solid creative trajectories, and, to us, the heart of the company,” stated one analyst.
Paramount Global, in the meantime, fell 17%. It’s financially squeezed so seen as likeliest to do a deal sooner moderately than later. Conversations with Zaslav in addition to with Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have touched on each an outright sale in addition to the potential for Redstone promoting her curiosity in NAI, the household holding firm that homes her Paramount inventory. Regular Paramount shareholders wouldn’t be getting any premium for his or her shares in that state of affairs, possibly one cause deal speak has not moved the needle on the inventory. Skydance wouldn’t face regulatory hurdles.
Among massive cap leisure shares, Netflix gained 63%. Studios are newly prepared to license exhibits. It has stronger steadiness sheet than most of massive media and a bigger backlog of unreleased content material of anybody however Disney, all of it devoted to streaming. It has added an promoting tier and is seeing upside from a crackdown on password sharing.
Smaller Lionsgate had a implausible run, up a whopping 88% because it ended the 12 months closing the acquisition of eOne from Hasbro and saying plans to mix the studio with a SPAC early subsequent 12 months in a separation from Starz that it hopes will unlock worth.
Fox continues to be nicely appreciated by some analysts — no streaming losses and a give attention to dwell sports activities and information. But buyers like progress and a few surprise concerning the finish sport. “It just is what it is,” stated one. With linear tv shrinking and the price of sports activities rights rising, “What’s the narrative?”
Fox is going through a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by a second voting machine firm, Smartmatic. Earlier this 12 months, it agreed to an $800 million settlement simply earlier than trial in a primary go well with introduced by Dominion Voting Systems.
In exhibition, the movie show gig continues to be a troublesome one and the strikes disrupted manufacturing, pushing some massive movies again, which can gradual the tempo of recent launch in 2024. Cinema shares ended the 12 months combined, with Cinemark – the No. 3 chain — displaying sharp positive factors. The worlds’ greatest exhibitor AMC Entertainment plunged, however analysts don’t thoughts. It’s “finally trading roughly in line with its pre-meme historical multiple,” stated one.
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