Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) stock is falling in pre-market trading Friday morning after missing on revenue estimates — posting $10.28 billion — and seeing wider-than-expected losses of $0.16 per share. Yahoo Finance Reporter Madison Mills breaks down the studio's latest report, noting streaming platform Max's profitability and 2023 headwinds from the Hollywood strikes.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Video Transcript
BRAD SMITH: Warner Brothers Discovery missing expectations on the top and bottom line in its fourth quarter. The media company is seeing its studios network and advertising revenue all fall as the effects of the Hollywood strikes lingered into the end of the year. There was one silver lining for the company though streaming service Max ended 2023 profitable for the first time.
Let's get to Madison Mills who is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more on this. Hey, Maddie.
MADISON MILLS: Hey, Brad. So what's really interesting to me about this earnings print from a details perspective is that not only was the results not what the Street was looking for obviously. This name is down over 10% in the pre-market trade. But also they changed up what they reported. I want to pull this up so that I get it right.
The full year EBITDA and the free cash flow guidance was not provided here. That's an indication to me of knowledge that things are not necessarily going to get better. The CEO did say that they are anticipating more entertainment and property, and products coming up. And that would particularly help them in international markets. Sometimes that's what a CEO says when they don't have a lot of other growth to point to.
But given all of the downward trends from those Hollywood actors and writers strikes that could lead to more growth for them moving forward because they'll have the staffing needed to up the revenue for those studios. But that studio revenue dropping 17% in the quarter. You mentioned, Brad though that the streaming service Max did end 2023 with profitability for the first time.
That's the first major streaming service to do that. So that is a boon against the likes of Disney, Peacock, some of those other competitors in the space, but not enough to lift this stock in the pre-market trade.