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Fox (FOXA) to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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Fox (FOXA - Free Report) is set to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 results on Aug 6.

For the quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 83 cents per share, down 2 cents in the past 30 days. The figure indicates a 5.68% decline from the year-ago reported figure.

The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $3.1 billion, implying 2.28% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

The company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 72.18%.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for this announcement.

Fox Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Fox Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Fox Corporation price-eps-surprise | Fox Corporation Quote

Factors to Consider

Fox’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 performance is expected to have been negatively impacted by dullness in the Cable Network Programming segment’s revenue growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s revenues is pegged at $1.42 billion, indicating a year-over-year improvement of 0.8%. 

Advertisers are contending with higher costs amid rising inflation, which has led to cutbacks in spending on advertising. This is expected to have reflected in the company’s ad revenue growth.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for advertising revenues is pegged at $989.4 million, indicating a year-over-year decline of 1.8%. 

In the last reported quarter, advertising revenues (35.8% of the total) plunged 34.1% year over year to $1.24 billion, primarily due to the absence of the prior year’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVII and fewer NFL games on FOX Sports.

Strength in the Television segment, driven by increasing affiliate fee revenues, is likely to have aided the company’s top-line growth.

In the last reported quarter, affiliate fee revenues (56.2% of the total) rose 4.4% to $1.93 billion, driven primarily by 9.2% growth in the Television segment. In the to-be-reported quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for affiliate fee revenues is pegged at $1.850 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 4.5%.

Fox News Digital and FOXBusiness.com had a successful first-quarter fiscal 2024, outperforming some of the key competitors in terms of multiplatform views, minutes and engagement on social media.

FOX News Channel finished the quarter under review as cable’s most-watched network in the United States, marking an impressive 90 consecutive quarters at the top, according to recent Nielsen Media Research data. In comparison, Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD - Free Report) CNN and MSNBC, owned by NBCUniversal, which is a subsidiary of Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) , experienced double-digit declines in the crucial 25-54 age demographic in the second quarter of 2024. (Read More: Fox's News Channel Dominates Cable Ratings in Q2).

Fox's strategy of expanding its reach through partnerships with platforms like EchoStar (SATS - Free Report) -owned DISH Network and SLING TV, as well as its FOX Nation streaming service, appears to be an attempt to stay ahead of these competitive pressures. 

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 27.3% in the year-to-date period against the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s decline of 1.6%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

By diversifying its distribution channels and adapting to changing viewer habits, Fox is working to maintain its dominant position in the news market while fending off both traditional and emerging competitors.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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