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: Shares of Entravision Communication (EVC 0.24%) opened down as much as 16% this morning after reporting earnings last night, but shares quickly recovered and were trading up near 3% this afternoon.
So what: The drop this morning was puzzling as the Spanish-language broadcaster's results were essentially in line with estimates, and shares were trading unchanged after hours last night. Entravision turned a per-share profit of $0.05, equal to the Street's expectations, while revenue improved 7% to $52.7 million ahead of estimates at $52 million. CEO Walter Ulloa noted that the company's TV segment continued to outperform the broader industry, and its share of audience "remains strong in the most densely populated Latino markets."
Now what: The broadcast sector has been especially volatile this year as competitors have consolidated to gain further market power, a move that has prompted potential action by the Federal Communications Commission. Notably, other broadcasters such as LIN Media and Gray Television opened lower today, though they were down just 2% or 3% instead of the double-digit drop Entravision saw. Much of the morning selling of Entravision came in a block of 65,000 shares sold for $4.81 at 9:32 a.m. EDT, though high-volume trading is common close to market open and close. Seeing as there was no news driving today's brief drop, I'd consider it a false alarm for investors.
