Q1 2024 Earnings Summary
Reported on Feb 18, 2025 (After Market Close)
Pre-Earnings Price$12.25Last close (Apr 29, 2024)
Post-Earnings Price$12.10Open (Apr 30, 2024)
Price Change
$-0.15(-1.22%)
- Paramount delivered significant growth in earnings and free cash flow in Q1 2024, with total company revenue growing 6% to $7.7 billion and adjusted OIBDA growing 80% to $987 million, reflecting strong operational performance across all three business segments.
- The company improved its balance sheet by generating $209 million of free cash flow, an improvement of over $750 million versus a year ago, and reduced leverage by 0.75x to 4.3x, benefiting from growth in adjusted OIBDA.
- Strategic initiatives to strengthen the balance sheet, such as the agreement to sell the equity interest in Viacom18 for approximately $500 million, which will further benefit leverage when the transaction closes, indicating a focus on financial discipline and optimization.
- Decline in TV Media Affiliate Revenue: TV Media affiliate revenue declined 3% year-over-year, reflecting overall Pay-TV ecosystem declines. This suggests that traditional TV revenues are facing structural challenges.
- Negative Impact on D2C ARPU Due to Content Shortage: Direct-to-consumer Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was negatively impacted by lower-than-expected engagement due to the lagging effect of last year's strikes, which constrained the availability of new programming. This indicates potential vulnerabilities in subscriber engagement and revenue growth.
- Sale of Equity Interest in Viacom18: Paramount entered into an agreement to sell its equity interest in Viacom18 for approximately $500 million. Exiting this ownership position could be seen as a retreat from international markets, potentially limiting global expansion opportunities.
Research analysts covering Paramount Global.