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Media and entertainment giant Viacom (Nasdaq: VIA) has seen its shares drop more than 25 percent over the past year, but that just presents an interesting opportunity for investors.
The company’s media networks include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and the Paramount Channel, reaching 3.4 billion viewers worldwide. Its Paramount Pictures division is a major motion picture company, with recent hits such as “Interstellar” and “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.”
Viacom offers much promise of growth, too. Its “Transformers” franchise features four films that have collectively grossed more than $3.7 billion worldwide, with another movie on the way in 2017. The 2013 ”World War Z” movie grossed more than $500 billion globally, but didn’t play in China. If Viacom gets it onto Chinese screens, dollars will follow.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” grossed more than $480 billion worldwide and has a sequel coming up in 2016. Less promising is a drop in cable TV ad revenue, a trend Viacom needs to overcome or offset. That will likely take time.
The company’s free cash flow tops $2 billion annually, and its net profit margins are in the double digits. With a recent price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio near 12, a five-year expected growth rate of 12 percent and a dividend yield recently topping 3 percent, Viacom is worth consideration for patient believers.