Why Sinclair Broadcast Shares Sank

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 television broadcasting company Sinclair Broadcast Group sank as low as 11% today after announcing disappointing quarterly results and a public offering of common stock.

So what: Sinclair's first-quarter profit of $17 million managed to beat estimates, but a miss on the top line -- revenue of $282.62 million versus the consensus of $290.7 million -- suggests that growth is slowing. Additionally, the company's commencement of a 14 million-share common stock offering might be raising concerns among investors over potential dilution.

Now what: Management now sees second-quarter net broadcast revenues from continuing operations, before barter, of $277.0 million to $279.3 million, representing a jump of 27.3% to 28.4% from the year-ago period. "The first-quarter momentum is continuing into the second quarter, especially in the automotive category, which we expect to be up by mid- to high single digit percents on a same station basis," said CFO David Amy. "The acquisitions which closed at the end of 2012 have transitioned smoothly into the organization and our culture, and we are on track with the launching of our small market television operation." With the stock still up more than 150% over the past year, however, I'd wait for even more of a pullback before buying into that bullishness.

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The article Why Sinclair Broadcast Shares Sank originally appeared on Fool.com.

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