Nexstar reports Q3 EPS 70c, consensus $1.51

Reports Q3 revenue $1.13B, consensus $1.18B. Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Nexstar Media Group commented, “Third quarter financial results primarily reflect the year-over-year decline in cyclical political advertising as well as the distribution revenue impact related to our successful negotiations with a distribution partner. We expect the favorable terms of new distribution agreements reached year-to-date, in 2022 and other upcoming renewals, to drive strong, high-margin distribution revenue growth. Our confidence in the strength and consistency of Nexstar’s business model and free cash flow generation is clearly highlighted by our active return of capital initiatives. During the third quarter and year-to-date, we allocated $199 million and $514 million, respectively, to repurchase shares, which we accelerated in September given the performance of our stock price. As a result, we reduced our share count to approximately 34.2 million shares as of September 30, 2023, marking a 25% reduction in our shares outstanding since the commencement of our share repurchase strategy in December 2019. We have ample capacity to continue to create shareholder value through repurchases with over $700 million remaining on our current authorization.”