Stanton's sales pitch
While Nine Entertainment's results were initially warmly received by the market, once the dust settled analysts had more questions than answers about its post-Domain growth story.
Nine Entertainment chief executive Matt Stanton could have been forgiven for feeling pretty good about his first annual results at the helm of the domestic media giant when he delivered them last Wednesday.
The stock popped 8% on results day, seemingly vindicating his plans to carve $150 million out of the company cost base by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. Confirmation that shareholders would receive $780 million from the proceeds of the sale of its 60% stake in Domain (with $600 million kept for growth investments) didn't go down badly either.
But Nine's shares gave back those gains the very next day, and the stock finished the week lower than where it started. The pullback came as analysts found the company's growth story in its post Domain-era unconvincing.
Macquarie's analysts broke their silence on the company following a period under research restrictions because of their work on CoStar’s acquisition of Domain. The broker was demure on Nine’s ability to deliver meaningful earnings growth without turning to M&A.
