News Corporation Reports Impressive Q4 Earnings and Revenue Growth

News Corporation NWSA reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings of 17 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.33% and marking a 21.4% year-over-year increase in profit.

Revenue surged to $2.58 billion, up 6% annually, beating estimates by 2.06%. This robust performance was underpinned by growth in Digital Real Estate Services, Book Publishing, and Dow Jones segments.

Impressive Quarterly Details

Adjusted revenues soared 6% year over year, excluding foreign currency impacts and acquisitions/divestitures.

Total EBITDA rose by 11% to $380 million, driven by strong performances in the Book Publishing segment and REA Group. Notably, these gains were somewhat offset by Hubbl launch costs at Foxtel Group.

Segment Breakdown

Digital Real Estate Services

The revenues in this segment surged by an impressive 21% to $448 million, propelled by robust performance at REA Group. However, Move experienced a 2% revenue decline due to lower real estate revenue.

Revenues at REA Group surged by 37% to $305 million, driven by various factors such as price increases, strong listing volumes, and a positive geographic mix.

Subscription Video Services

Revenues in the segment increased by 1% year over year, primarily due to higher revenues from Kayo and BINGE, although impacted by a reduction in residential broadcast subscribers.

Dow Jones

Revenues rose by 4% year over year to $566 million, boosted by circulation and subscription revenues led by the professional information business. Digital revenues accounted for 81% of total revenues in the quarter.

Book Publishing

The segment reported revenues of $512 million, a 15% increase from the previous year, driven by higher physical and digital book sales.

News Media

Revenues in this segment dropped by 5% to $545 million due to lower advertising revenues, with News Corp Australia and News UK both experiencing declines in their respective revenue streams.

Financial Snapshot

News Corporation concluded the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.96 billion, borrowings of $2.9 billion, and stockholder equity of $8.12 billion (excluding non-controlling interests).

Zacks Rank & Top Stocks

NWSA currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Other notable stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector include GameSquare Holdings, Inc. GAME, H&R Block HRB, and Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. MSGE, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

GameSquare Holdings is set to announce its second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 14, with H&R Block following on Aug 15 and Madison Square Garden Entertainment on Aug 16.