Latest news with #JeffHirsch
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The media sector faces a 'great shedding' of assets before M&A revival: Starz CEO
As media giants grapple with rising interest rates, regulatory pressure, and tariff uncertainty, consolidation is on pause — at least for now. Starz sees opportunity in the chaos. The newly independent premium cable and streaming network is positioning itself to potentially acquire distressed assets and provide tech support to traditional players caught flat-footed by the streaming revolution. "There'll be a great shedding first, and then there'll be a reconnecting of other things," Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch told Yahoo Finance on Monday. He pointed to a period of strategic soul-searching across the industry. "A lot of folks are inward-looking and trying to figure out who they are and what they do well." "Once they figure that out, then I think they'll shed assets," the head of the Colorado-based company added. It's been a turbulent time for legacy media, which has heavily invested in expensive streaming endeavors amid the mass exodus of pay TV consumers. Prior to the cord-cutting phenomenon, linear advertising and cable affiliate fees had consistently boosted revenues. But as ad buyers now flee traditional TV channels in favor of digital options like streaming, companies are beginning to realize they may never realize those economics again. These pressures have resulted in waves of layoffs across the industry as companies double down on streaming through newly launched ad-supported tiers, bundled offerings, and price hikes. That has triggered a broader recalibration of portfolio strategy and, according to Hirsch, is setting the stage for a sweeping wave of divestitures across the industry. For example, later this year, Comcast (CMCSA) plans to spin off most of its cable properties into a new company, dubbed Versant, while Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) recently underwent a corporate restructuring to separate its legacy networks, including CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV, and the Food Network, from growth drivers like studios and its streaming platform Max. Outside of Comcast and Warner Bros., Disney (DIS) has also explored cleaving off its traditional TV assets, which include broadcast network ABC and cable channels like FX, Freeform, and National Geographic. Disney CEO Bob Iger has since walked back those comments, but it's still possible a spin-off or asset sale could be revisited, according to analysts. And with Paramount's (PARA) deal with Skydance Media set to close in the second half of 2025, it remains unclear what will happen to Paramount's cable and TV properties after the merger. "I don't think anything will happen for the next 12 to 18 months," Hirsch said. "But I think after that you'll start to see people reconfigure their businesses." Hirsch, whose company Starz (STRZ) began trading on the Nasdaq last month after spinning off from Lionsgate Studios, has signaled interest in acquiring struggling linear assets that align with Starz's core audience. "If you look at the disruption going on in the business today, there are a lot of linear networks, or ad-supported networks that serve the demos that we serve today," he said at a UBS media conference late last year. "I do think there's an opportunity once we separate, once we have our own balance sheet and a currency, to go out and acquire some of those linear assets." But for now, Hirsch said Starz is focused on driving organic growth and leveraging its proprietary tech platform to support peers that are still reliant on traditional distribution models. "We have a tech platform that we built ourselves that we can scale," he said. "It looks a lot like the BAMtech business that Disney bought years ago." "What that tech platform allows us to do is help some of our linear peers that have been marooned on the linear side by actually giving them a digital product and launching them into the digital world." As media companies brace for a period of transition, Hirsch said Starz is well-positioned to either provide services to partners or become an attractive acquisition target itself. "If you have a very valuable, profitable business that throws off a lot of cash, that has a unique tech platform that others don't, of course it makes you interesting to others," he said. "But right now, four weeks from separation, we're really focused on just driving the core business and delivering on the guide that we gave to the Street last week." Starz added 530,000 US streaming subscribers in the quarter, driven by the debut of "Power Book III: Raising Kanan." The company plans to reduce content costs and rebuild its in-house IP library to drive growth, taking a $177.4 million restructuring charge tied to this strategic shift. "We believe Starz's improved content slate in 2025 (after a year when the pipeline was affected by the 2023 Hollywood strikes), featuring new seasons of flagship franchises and promising new originals, could help stabilize the subscriber base," TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said in a client note last week. "But this remains a 'show me' story until proof arrives in the form of steady quarterly performance." Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Markets: Is 'sell in May and go away' still a winning strategy?
Does the old adage "sell in May and go away" still hold true in this market environment? Yahoo Finance markets and data editor Jared Blikre — who also hosts the Stocks In Translation podcast — gives a history lesson on how this trading practice performed for stock traders (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) over the past 100 years, weighing in on whether its a winning strategy in regards to market seasonality. Twice a week, Stocks In Translation cuts through the market mayhem, noisy numbers and hyperbole to give you the information you need to make the right trade for your portfolio. You can find more episodes here, or watch on your favorite streaming service. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. We've all heard the saying sell in May and go away. But how well does it actually work for investors? I'm Jared Blikre, host of Stocks and Translation. Now, sell in May is older than you think, like 19, uh, 1694 old. London traders first coined it, timing their market exits in the summer, then buying again just after the famous St. Leger horse race. And that was in September in the middle of the month. Now, if we fast forward to 1986, our friend of the show, Jeff Hirsch, he put that phrase front and center in his stock traders almanac. And nowadays, Americans mostly think it's Memorial Day in early May through Labor Day in early September. But the big question is, does this old saying, does it still hold true? So let's crunch nearly a century of numbers. From 1928, we split each year into three equal parts. And it turns out that May through August was pretty strong until about 1960, but then things flipped. Between 1960 and 1987, the early days of modern Wall Street, it really paid to step away from the summer. Since then though, not exactly. Summers have been positive, just not as strong as the rest of the year. So let's keep this simple and imagine if you invested $1,000 in 1960 in two different ways. If you'd followed sell in May, and that's the white line you're looking at, you were actually winning in the 1960s and 70s. But then things changed with the big crash in 1987. And after that, the fully invested strategy, in green, it pulled ahead. Sitting tight in these months has been a winning strategy, at least on balance since then. So finally, let's take one more look at the month by month gains and losses since 1988. This is a seasonality chart. And if you notice, you can see August and September, those two bars are poking below zero. They consistently drag. So if you wanted to steer away from potential trouble, these two months might be it, but not the entire summer. So bottom line, sell in May made sense once upon a time, and today, you're probably better off staying invested. And maybe just keeping an eye out for potential trouble around the new school year. I'm Jared Blikre. Tune into stocks and translation for more market decoding deep dives, new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Yahoo Finance's website or wherever you find your podcast. All right, Jared, thanks so much. Sign in to access your portfolio
CNBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Jeff Hirsch: Markets under Trump are tracking 'old-school Republican years,' warrants caution
Jeff Hirsch, Stock Trader's Almanac editor-in-chief, joins CNBC's 'Power Lunch' to reflect on the first 100 days of President Trump's second term.
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
After Correction, Tariffs, & Fed…What Next?
A 10% correction in the S&P 500. A host of new tariff threats. A closely watched Federal Reserve meeting. Investors have had a LOT on their plates. So, where do markets go NEXT? What stocks and funds look the most promising? Top MoneyShow expert contributors weigh in this week. Lawrence McMillan Option Strategist A short-term buy signal for the S&P 500 (SPX) was triggered at Friday's close: The 'oscillator differential' buy signal. This occurs when the two breadth oscillators, which had spread far apart in recent weeks, come back within 200 points of each other.. Historically, this has been a reliable short-term, one-week buy signal. For those unfamiliar with this indicator, it's based on the divergence and convergence of two key market breadth oscillators—the NYSE-based oscillator and the 'stocks only' oscillator. These signals have provided strong short-term trading opportunities in the past. SPX Stocks Only Still, in the longer term, equity-only put-call ratios have been racing upwards, with put buying very heavy last week. Both remained on sell signals for the stock market since they are rising. The weighted ratio reached the heights of last summer. But it is not the level of the ratio that is the direction and that is still upward. These put-call ratios won't generate buy signals until they roll over and begin to trend lower. In summary, we have only one buy signal confirmed, but we expect to see more in the next few days. The ensuing rally is likely to carry upwards to about 5,900 and then run into more trouble. We have been rolling deeply in-the-money puts down and will continue to do so where appropriate. Jeff Hirsch The Stock Trader's Almanac Tip-for-tap tariff policy has economic uncertainty swelling – and the market retreating in a manner that some are already comparing to Covid-19 and 2020. This seems like a reasonable now is not 2020. I believe many of the market's current concerns could be alleviated. It could even happen just as quickly as the problems arose, with more clarity and perhaps a slower pace. When (could the correction end) and where (a possible S&P 500 level) are two questions we would like to have answers to as the S&P 500 slips deeper into correction territory. To gain some potential prospective on the when, we compiled some data on post-inaugural market performance. Aside from confirming the current market retreat has been tough, the table also showed us that this has not been the worst post-inaugural performance. Recent history shows 2009 and 2001 were even worse. S&P 500 performance Transforming the data into a chart showing the 30 trading days before and the 100 trading days after the inauguration dates resulted in the chart here. Please note: There are an average of 21 trading days per month. In addition to the 'All' line, we separated out past Republicans and past Democrats. Performance has been adjusted to set zero on Inauguration Day. Trump 2.0 is the current S&P 500 performance as of the March 13 close. The weak market performance by Republicans in the chart is consistent with post-election year performance by party found on page 28 of the 2025 Almanac. Trump 2.0 does appear to be tracking the Republican line fairly closely, although the magnitude of this year's S&P 500 decline is greater. Should the S&P 500 continue to track the historical Republican line, an initial low/bottom could occur in the second half of March – with a potential retest in sometime possibly in early April. Then the S&P 500 could begin to recover like it historically did under past Republican presidents. Jay Pelosky TPW Advisory The enthusiasm and euphoria that greeted the Trump election win, especially among the retail investor base, has been replaced by retail sentiment at levels last seen at the bottom of the 2022 bear market. Additionally, rotation is the lifeblood of bull markets and today, the rotation is global – from the US to the rest. ETFs like the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) are benefitting. Crypto – THE Trump trade (we thought so, too) – has fallen like a stone alongside many growth and hype stocks and segments. Remember the Trump coin? The Melania coin? Down 90%. Stock market weakness has been concentrated in the Mag 7, which took a shot to the heart with the advent of Deep Seek, something we have discussed at length. The shift out of Mag 7 and into China tech funds like the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), has been one of the fastest, cleanest, and clearest examples of rotation we have ever seen. Tech Rotation Then there is the strong relative performance of the non-US equity markets over the past two weeks, with the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) and EEM holding above their 200-day moving averages while the S&P, QQQs, and others broke well below. That is a testimony to the global equity rotation under way. Rotation is the lifeblood of bull markets and here the rotation is global, from the US to the rest. China Allocations We continue to strongly favor non-US equity and remain overweight both Europe and Asia. Our focus is on large caps, banks (loan growth, fewer defaults, more M&A), and defense in Europe, and a Japanese focus in Asia. We also remain overweight EM equity with a strong focus on China, both large cap and tech. We have held these positions for some time in our Global Multi Asset (GMA) model, except for EU defense which we added last month. We would use rips in US equity to reduce positions and employ dips in non-US as opportunities to add.
