CTC Media Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (CTCM)

CTC Media Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: CTC Media (Nasdaq: CTCM ) dropped 11% in intraday trading today after reporting non-GAAP EPS of $0.16, a penny shy of the consensus estimate of $0.17.

So what: Non-GAAP revenue increased 19% from the year-ago quarter, while non-GAAP operating expenses increased 26% -- causing non-GAAP net income to fall 10%. Despite the deteriorating earnings, management announced a dividend hike of 40%.

Now what: Management blamed high expenses on accelerated amortization of certain programming, higher programming costs to improve low audience share, and investments to develop second-tier Russian networks. The company reiterated its full-year outlook, noting that changes to its ad sales structure at the beginning of 2011 boosted gross margin and ratings improved in April. Time will tell if the big dividend increase was justifiable or if management of this media company is giving too much credibility to the spin it's putting on its own story.

Interested in more info on CTC Media? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

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Fool contributor Cindy Johnson does not own shares of any company named above. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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