We have been following entertainment giant Paramount (PARA) and its political woes for some time now, as it works to, finally, secure a deal to merge with Skydance. The merger did not start well, and based on how things are going, it may not end all that well either. Now, Paramount has found it has some unlikely support in the United States Senate, and facing concerns from entertainment figures as well. Investors, meanwhile, were mostly pleased with this, and sent Paramount shares up modestly in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading.
In perhaps the strangest bit of Paramount news in weeks, a coalition of senators headed by—in what will probably be a surprise to no one—Sen. Bernie Sanders, came out on Paramount’s side, urging them to fight the lawsuit posed by President Trump. The suit, noted the coalition, represented a “…blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against him (President Trump).”
The coalition then attempted to seize the moral high ground, declaring “We urge you and the board of directors at Paramount to make it clear to President Trump today that Paramount will not surrender to his attack on the First Amendment. Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy. Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism.”
Then Things Got Weird
As if senators taking an interest in a media merger was not sufficiently weird, it only got weirder from there, as once again, a Paramount employee bit the hand that fed him. This time, the biter was Stephen Colbert, host of the CBS-aired Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Colbert, in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, noted “There are reports that the owner of this company called the president – or called the chairman of this company – and said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to get the news to lay off any bad Trump stories.’ And the word is that that was not passed on to the news division, I’m happy to say.”
Just to round out the weird at Paramount, it then brought out a new promo video for Paramount+, using, perhaps, the most unlikely crossover ever: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Spongebob Squarepants. The promo put the residents of Bikini Bottom directly on the bridge of the Enterprise, which, unfathomably, had been reshaped to look just like Patrick Star. A behind-the-scenes blooper reel followed, which tried to build more on the outlandish fun and get people interested in signing up for Paramount+.
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 8.03% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $11.92 per share implies 2.67% upside potential.
