Shares of ViacomCBS Inc. initially dipped 2% in extended trading Tuesday after the media giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street analysts’ forecasts despite a healthy jump in streaming subscribers.
ViacomCBS
VIAC,
posted adjusted earnings of $557 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or $1.04 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 16% to $8 billion from $6.87 billion a year ago.
“Our success was evident across all lines of business, and spotlighted by streaming, where we achieved our best quarter ever in streaming subscription growth — more than doubling our subscriber additions from last quarter with a record 9.4M additions, expanding our total global streaming subscribers to over 56M,” ViacomCBS Chief Executive Robert Bakish said in a statement announcing the results.
Streaming revenue surged 48% to $1.32 billion during the quarter, topping analyst forecasts of $1.27 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected net income of 43 cents a share on revenue of $7.5 billion. They also expected 52.9 million total streaming subscribers.
ViacomCBS stock is up 19% this year, while the broader S&P 500 index
SPX,
is down 6%.
ViacomCBS’s results come after rivals Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
reported strong results, while Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
warned of slackening growth.
ViacomCBS has aggressively promoted its content, including original series “1883,” “Halo” and “Big Nate,” in a full-page ad in the New York Times on Tuesday.
