Nomura Securities Maintains a 'Neutral' on Discovery Communications (DISCA); Q1 Review: Int'l Strong, But U.S. and OWN Not So Much

Nomura Securities maintains a 'Neutral' on Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA) price target of $49.00.

Analyst, Michael Nathanson, said, "Discovery reported 1Q12 adjusted EPS of $0.57, $0.04 cents behind our $0.61 estimate (vs. $0.60 consensus estimate). First quarter EBITDA of $507mn (vs. $499mn estimate) exceeded our estimates, which benefitted from a strong International showing and additional domestic streaming dollars. Though the US segment missed our EBITDA estimates by $7mn, International EBITDA beat us by $23mn or 15%, resulting in total company margins of 46% (in line vs. estimate). Discovery began consolidating 100% of losses related to OWN, its JV with Oprah, earlier than we had expected contributing to a much higher loss of $50mn below the line."

"We continue to prefer Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS) and (Nasdaq: VIA)."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Discovery Communications click here. For more ratings news on Discovery Communications click here.

Shares of Discovery Communications closed at $54.08 yesterday.

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