Investors Brutalize Entercom Stock

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Back in May, Entercom CEO David Field sounded optimistic about business in the second quarter. He said the company was pacing in the low single digits. When he gave that assessment, April was already in the books and it finished strong. Unfortunately for Entercom, business slowed down after that and Q2 did not perform as well as investors expected. Entercom’s stock tumbled more than 35%, Wednesday.

Field said he was sobered by the slowdown in Q2.

For the months of April, May, and June, Entercom reported a 2.3% increase in revenue with digital up 19%. National was strong in the quarter while events, due to bad weather, and local were down. Legacy CBS stations performed better than Entercom legacy stations in the quarter.

The strongest performing markets for Entercom in Q2 were Denver, Orlando, and Philadelphia. The hottest categories were Consumer Products, Telecom, and TV and Cable.

Looking ahead to Q3, with tougher political comps, pacing is up in the low single digits and Field says he expects the quarter to finish up in the low single digits.

The company also said while the integration of the CBS radio stations took longer than expected, cost synergies will come in at more than $170 million.

4 COMMENTS

  1. This is amazingly similar to another large radio company coming off another big acquisition, circa 2013. Be careful what you wish for out there. Everyone railed against that CEO, his managerial tactics, and called for his head. In the end, they got Robespierre in a dress, exponential firings and micromanagement at a whole new level. Stay HABU my friends.

  2. Perhaps there is nothing more to this development than what the previous commenters have addressed, but, then again, perhaps this is an indication of coming attractions in response to David Field’s aggressive, offensive promotion of his cause celebre, i.e., the sodomite agenda, via his new CHANNEL Q segment of Entercom.

  3. TheBigger A is right on the money. The micromanagement culture is oppressive, the systems are cumbersome, the compensation plan is not motivating, and the turnover is significant. Senior leadership takes a short-term approach in an attempt to hit budget without any long-term vision or strategy. This has led to morale being at an all-time low yet everyone has to pretend everything is great. Entercom has serious issues that aren’t being addressed because management just falls in line even though they are aware of the issues – the ship is sinking.

  4. Entercom’s problem is that their top management is old school radio station management, “managing” using the same habits and thinking that worked 20 years ago, but not today. …Same old, same old. Top-down management with a culture that demands numerous meetings and countless reports, including from the salespeople (leaving them much less time to go out and sell.) The Los Angeles cluster is run like a dictatorship. And “managing” by fear and control, just doesn’t lead to new business and revenue growth. For Entercom to survive, Field needs to do a massive top management purge, and bring in forward-thinking leaders who are totally open to new approaches, who empower the salespeople, and who keep the meetings and reports to a bare minimum. They are hindrances to productivity.

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