Gray Television downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Barrington

Barrington analyst James Goss downgraded Gray Television to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target post the Q4 report. The company faces several challenging trends, including continuing linear churn, a slowing pace of progress in retransmission revenue generation and still-high programming costs obligations, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while Gray is not providing political guidance, it expects it to be close to the $600M election day total from the 2020, though not make up the added $50M from the dual Georgia senate runoff. “This more challenging environment pressures our projections of profitability and the pace at which Gray can cut its leverage, which is important to valuation. A cautious view is warranted,” contends Barrington.