Election ads boost Tegna’s earnings

Article Excerpt

TEGNA INC. $12 (New York symbol TGNA, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares o/s: 215.3 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tegna.com) owns 47 TV stations and two radio stations in 39 markets. It also offers online services, including Premion (advertising) and G/O Digital (website design). The company recently paid $328.4 million for two TV stations and two radio stations in San Diego, California. As a result, Tegna’s revenue in the quarter ended September 30, 2018, rose 16.1%, to $539.0 million from $464.3 million a year earlier. If you exclude unusual items, earnings jumped 76.6%, to $87.4 million, or $0.40 a share, from $49.5 million, or $0.23. Heavy spending on political advertising ahead of the U.S. midterm elections also contributed to the improved results. Tegna is still a buy. buy…