By: Jennifer Saba Merrill Lynch lowered its full year 2005 earnings per share estimates by 1% for half of the 10 companies the research firm covers, according to a note released on Monday.
However, Q2 EPS for the industry beat the firm's forecast by advancing 1% versus Merrill's expectations of a 1% decline. The uplift was driven mostly by better cost performance rather than strong ad growth.
June marked a slowdown for ad revenues, which rose roughly 2%. April was up 3% and May was up 2.5%. The retail and national categories dragged down June results.
Merrill anticipates a "slightly better" Q3 with estimates of 3% ad revenue growth and a stronger Q4 with a forecast of 3.5% growth due to easy comparisons.
The research firm's top picks: E.W. Scripps, Tribune, and Washington Post are stamped with a "buy" rating.
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