(TheRedAlertNews.com) – Long the dominant conservative TV network, Fox News is on a severe downward spiral and is imploding as a significant financial services company cut the value of Fox Corporation stock over viewership and earnings risks.
Fox News has been particularly shaken by its ouster of host Tucker Carlson in April, after agreeing to pay a nearly $800 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems over its hosts’ claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
On Monday, Wells Fargo analysts demoted Fox Corporation shares (FOXA) from “equal weight” to “underweight,” slashing the price target from $35 per share to $31 per share, Newsmax reports.
“Fox News is the FOXA cash cow at ~80% of our FY24E EBITDA,” said the analysts, as cited by Ivesting.com.
“Viewership is down -19% Jan-June’23 vs. Jan-June’21 due to cord cutting and/or programming,” they added.
“More worryingly, Fox News was 52% of cable news primetime viewership for 2020-22, 51% in Jan ’23, and that has slid to a low of 38% in June ’23 post-TC,” the analysis points out.
It also stresses that Fox News’ share of conservative news views has dropped to 84%, down from 94%.
“Fox News saw a significant ratings decline after its termination of its number one rated host, Tucker Carlson. The network has yet to reveal why it had removed Carlson from his prime time perch,” Newsmax comments, adding that its TV channel is seeing a surge.
More specifically, just as Fox News saw a 15% decline in total daily ratings between January and June, Newsmax’s shot up by 71%, according to Nielsen data.
In the same period, Fox’s prime time hours audience dwindled by 21%, while Newsmax’s spiked by 126%.
According to the report, Fox News has also been hit by a wave of views switching from cable or satellite subscriptions to cheaper streaming options.
Analyst Steven Cahall now believes Fox News has an enterprise value of roughly $11 billion, a decline by one-sixth, because of a “structural decline” in cable news viewership, as cited by Seeking Alpha.
Since March, Fox’s shares have been degraded by Bank of America, Argus, Barclays, Rosenblatt Securities, and Morgan Stanley.
