In its first earnings as its new slimmed-down version, Fox beat Wall Street expectations.
The company posted an adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $.076 and $2.75 billion in revenue for its fiscal third quarter of 2019. Wall Street had forecast earnings of $0.67 EPS and $2.61 billion in revenue, per a Yahoo Finance compilation of media analysts.
“Our first quarterly results as Fox Corporation demonstrate the strength of our businesses as we delivered strong top line growth across our operating segments and across our key revenue categories,” said Fox CEO and executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch. “Fox commences as a standalone company with strong assets in unique positions to succeed in the evolving media landscape. Our team is all pulling in the same direction and achieving great things together.”
The increase in revenues was primarily attributable to affiliate and advertising revenue growth of 11% and 9%, respectively. Net income was $529 million, up 16% from the same period a year ago ($457 million).
Fox Corporation, which encompasses Fox News, the Fox broadcast network (including its local TV station group) and Fox Sports, began trading on the NASDAQ on March 19. Disney completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets the next day.
The company will hold its first investor day on Thursday, and will hold its first upfront presentation for advertisers as a standalone entity next week.