Gray Television Beats on the Top Line

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Gray Television (NYS: GTN) reported earnings on Feb. 20. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Gray Television beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew significantly. GAAP earnings per share dropped to a loss.


Gross margins expanded, operating margins grew, net margins shrank.

Revenue details
 Gray Television tallied revenue of $126.6 million. The two analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated net sales of $120.5 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 50% higher than the prior-year quarter's $84.7 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.75. The three earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.42 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.75 for Q4 were much higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.10 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.05 for Q4 versus $0.10 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 55.2%, 1,400 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 46.6%, 1,690 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -1.7%, 1,060 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $78.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.04.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $329.8 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.37.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 76 members out of 101 rating the stock outperform, and 25 members rating it underperform. Among 25 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 21 give Gray Television a green thumbs-up, and four give it a red thumbs-down.

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The article Gray Television Beats on the Top Line originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. 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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