Shares of media conglomerate CBS Corporation (CBS) have risen 5% since Feb 12, when it posted impressive fourth-quarter results. The momentum gathered from the company’s sturdy performance led the stock to hit a new high of $65.93 on Friday, when it eventually closed at $64.96. The stock has amassed a return of 52.7% over the past year.
The company ended its superb run for 2013 on a high note as the fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 78 cents grew nearly 22% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 76 cents. For the full year, earnings came in at $3.02 per share, a penny ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate and up 18.4% year over year.
Similarly, total revenue of $3,911.0 million cruised ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,831 million and grew 5.8% from the prior-year quarter. Full-year revenues of $15,284 million were ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15,194 million and up 8.5% year over year.
CBS mainly benefitted from content monetization and rise in non-advertising revenue. Recently, it signed several deals with HULU and Amazon Inc. (AMZN) among others to put its programming (Under The Dome and Extant for Amazon, Elementary and Blue Bloods for HULU) on a diverse range of platforms and make this a steady source of revenue.
Moreover, the company announced an accelerated share repurchases program of $1.5 billion on the same day as the earnings release. CBS will buyback $2 billion worth of shares in the first quarter reflecting the company’s priority to maximize shareholders’ return.
Needless to say, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is firing on all cylinders and this growth momentum is expected to continue in 2014 and beyond. Given the increasing reverse compensation from affiliates, strong demand of its content, digital distribution, syndication sales and retransmission consent, CBS is poised to benefit from diversification of revenue streams.
The New York-based company currently trades at a forward P/E of 18.7x, in line with its peer group. Also, its last traded price is roughly 6% below the Zacks Consensus average analyst price target of $69.14. Average volume of shares traded over the last 3 months stands at approximately 4,917.7K. The company’s long-term EPS growth rate is 11.3%.
Other than CBS, The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. (MHFI) also reached highs of $79.47, and $82.05 respectively, on Feb 14, 2014.
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