Entertainment giant Paramount (PARA) has been trying to walk a very fine line between ethics in news and its fiduciary duty to shareholders lately. That walk has just been complicated by a report released from Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes. Despite warnings from Paramount execs—potentially going as far up as Shari Redstone herself—60 Minutes went after President Trump once more. Investors were pleased, though, and Paramount shares gained around 2% in the closing minutes of Monday’s trading.
The Sunday edition of 60 Minutes featured a whole new shot across the bow of the Trump Administration, as it put together a segment on how Trump is responding to law firms who came after him after he left office the first time. A set of executive orders followed, security clearances were revoked, and Marc Elias, former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer, declared it “…an assault on the entire legal profession.”
Given that Elias once worked for Perkins Coie, who itself lost its security clearance back in March, such a response is not all that surprising. Yet this also runs afoul of Paramount’s recent efforts to reduce its political footprint, as evidenced by its paring back of the upcoming Take a Seat project.
Making Money From Sports
But not everything at Paramount these days is politics. No, Paramount is also working to make money from sports advertising, and recently, Ryan Briganti—head of sports ad sales at Paramount—offered up some insight about where Paramount’s future lies in a report from Adweek.
Sports are doing remarkably well at Paramount. CBS Sports’ coverage of the Men’s NCAA Final Four has hit highs not seen in the last eight years. Viewership of the Masters is up 33% against last year, and the NFL is actually doing better on CBS than on Fox. With that in mind, it is putting a little more organization into its upfronts this year, calling attention to the remarkable successes and demonstrating first-hand what advertising with Paramount sports can do. Reports noted that the sports arm will take the idea of “intimate dinner” upfronts Paramount has been using and add a sports twist to them.
Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on PARA stock based on two Buys, seven Holds and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.37% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.25 per share implies 6.48% upside potential.
