- CNBC’s Jim Cramer ranked major media stocks on Friday, with Disney topping the list, followed by Fox, Warner Bros. and Paramount.
- “After earnings season, it’s worth reassessing the independent media because some of them are doing much better than expected,” Cramer said.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer ranked the major media stocks on Friday and picked Walt Disney as the best of the bunch.
“After earnings season, it’s worth reassessing the independent media because some of them are doing much better than expected,” Cramer said. He noted that investors were worried about the sector because of fears that a slowing economy would weaken advertising revenue, coupled with the general notion that so many other entertainment sources are competing for consumers’ time.
Walt Disney: Disney “stole the show.”” This quarter, Cramer reported better-than-expected profits after years of trouble. The company also managed to raise its cost-cutting forecasts by $2.2 billion. Cramer said CEO Bob Iger has taken control of Disney’s narrative and expressed confidence that this quarter represents a turning point. For Cramer, it’s likely that Disney will keep its austerity promises or at least “fail in the attempt.”Fox: According to Cramer, Fox isn’t the best, but it’s also far from the worst. He said the company’s quarter wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t do much to move the stock, which is still trading below where it was before the report. And while Fox’s streaming service, Tubi, reported revenue growth, it’s still not popular in the mainstream, Cramer said. However, he pointed out that the company will make a “fortune” next year before the election.Warner Bros.: Cramer called Warner Bros.’s final quarter “clearly suboptimal,” even though “Barbie” was the highest-grossing film of the year. Management said the company would not be able to repay its debt as planned if the advertising market remained weak. Warner Bros emerged from the quarter with $43 billion in debt, and Cramer said the stock won’t perform well if it doesn’t make progress on that front.Paramount: Cramer said Paramount has the worst record of the four, putting it at the bottom of the list. Although its streaming service has made progress toward profitability, the company’s advertising revenue has fallen short of Wall Street expectations. For Cramer, Paramount needs lower interest rates and an improved advertising market.Disclosure: Comcast was excluded from the list to avoid a conflict of interest. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC
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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Walt Disney.
