Investors were tuning out Gray Television (GTN 1.75%) on Friday after the company published its latest set of quarterly and annual results. The stock's price took a nearly 23% hit that day, a far worse performance than the sideways trajectory of the S&P 500 index.
Top-line decline, bottom-line flip
The market's reaction wasn't all that shocking, given that for the quarter Gray's revenue declined and it flipped to a bottom-line loss.
To put numbers on those dynamics, the TV station operator's total revenue was $864 million for the period, down from the $1.07 billion it earned in the fourth quarter of 2022. The GAAP net loss amounted to $22 million ($0.24 per share), while in the year-ago frame Gray netted a profit of $173 million.
On average, analysts tracking the stock were anticipating just over $863 million on the top line and a per-share net loss of only $0.16.
In its earnings release, Gray -- which operates a clutch of TV stations throughout the U.S. but concentrated in the Southeast -- attributed the revenue decline entirely to a lack of political advertising in what was mostly an election off-year. It did not comment in the document about the sudden lurch into the red on the bottom line.
NYSE: GTN
Key Data Points
Revenue guidance falls short
Gray did proffer guidance for its current (first) quarter. The company expects to take in revenue of $810 million to $830 million; however, that's well below the consensus analyst projection of more than $863 million. Operating expenses should total $641 million to $657 million.
Gray did not provide a bottom-line forecast.
