Music

Universal Music Stock Regains Some Losses After Warner Music Earnings

Sarah Parker August 10, 2024

During a chaotic week for inventory markets world wide, Universal Music Group (UMG) shares rose 3.3% to 22.15 euros ($24.20), sufficient to make the Amsterdam-listed firm the top-performing music inventory of the week.

Stocks have been hammered on Monday (Aug. 5) as markets reacted to a disappointing U.S. jobs report the prior Friday (Aug. 2), resulting in mounting issues the financial system may fall right into a recession. The Billboard Global Music Index fell 2.0% on Monday, although it skilled a lighter decline than each the Nasdaq (down 3.4%) and the S&P 500 (down 3.0%). Investors didn?t panic, nonetheless, and markets made positive factors over the rest of the week. On Friday (Aug. 9), the Nasdaq closed down 0.2% for the week whereas the S&P 500 broke even.

UMG obtained a lift on Wednesday (Aug. 7) from Warner Music Group?s quarterly earnings report ? a welcome change after a second-quarter slowdown in UMG?s streaming progress so fearful traders that the corporate?s shares fell 24% the next day. WMG?s newest earnings outcomes, which confirmed that recorded music streaming income grew 8.7% after just a few changes, might have satisfied some UMG traders that they overreacted. In gentle of this new info, UMG shares jumped 6.6% to 22.74 euros ($24.85) on Wednesday. Notably, this Friday?s closing worth is 14% above the bottom closing worth ? 21.12 euros ($23.08) ? for the reason that 24% decline occurred on July 25.

WMG shares rose 0.3% to $28.34 this week after the corporate introduced that quarterly income dropped 1% and internet revenue improved 14%. The third-largest main?s streaming positive factors glad some, however not all, analysts. Morgan Stanley analysts cited ?lowered streaming growth outlook? in reducing their worth goal to $35 from $41. Guggenheim, inspired by WMG?s subscription income progress acceleration and efficiency relative to UMG, maintained its $44 worth goal. JP Morgan, which sees WMG as ?well positioned? to seize paid streaming adoption, left its $41 worth goal unchanged.

The Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted measure of 20 corporations? market capitalizations, rose 3.1%, breaking a streak of 4 consecutive weeks with a loss. Spotify, the index?s largest element, gained 2.6% to $339.69. Tencent Music Entertainment, which is able to report earnings on Tuesday (Aug. 13), rose 2.8% to $12.97.

In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 3.6% to eight,168.10. South Korea?s KOSPI composite index fell 3.3% to 2,588.43. China?s Shanghai composite index dropped 1.5% to 2,862.19.

iHeartMedia shares fell 10.7% to $1.33 following the corporate?s second-quarter earnings on Thursday (Aug. 8). The firm reported a 1% improve in second-quarter income and sounded optimistic that political promoting will present a lift to the full-year outcomes. Both third-quarter and full-year income are anticipated to be up by mid-single digits.

Shares of radio broadcaster Townsquare Media dropped 5.8% following the corporate?s second-quarter outcomes on Tuesday. Revenue fell 2.5% and internet loss elevated to $48.9 million from $2.7 million within the prior-year interval. Its $0.14 earnings per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.42.