Gray Television (NYSE: GTN) reported Q4 EPS of $1.06, $0.14 better than the analyst estimate of $0.92. Revenue for the quarter came in at $328.22 million versus the consensus estimate of $322.27 million.

• Strong Net Income and Record Fourth Quarter Revenue and Broadcast Cash Flow - Our net income was $88.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, and was our second best fourth quarter net income. Our revenue and Broadcast Cash Flow for the fourth quarter of 2018 were each record results. Our revenue was $328.2 million, increasing $94.6 million, or 40%, from the fourth quarter of 2017, and was our all-time best quarterly revenue. Our Broadcast Cash Flow was $172.8 million, increasing $87.1 million, or 102%, from the fourth quarter of 2017, and was our all-time best quarterly result.
• Political Revenue – Our political advertising revenue was $83.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. For comparison, after giving effect to stations acquired and divested from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2018, we earned $79.5 million of political advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2014, which was the most recent non-presidential election year. Our political advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018 was approximately 5% greater than that of the fourth quarter of 2014, on this adjusted basis.
• Retransmission Revenue, Expense and Net - Our gross retransmission revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018 was $93.0 million, and our retransmission expense was $42.7 million. Therefore, our retransmission revenue, net of retransmission expense, was $50.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. For calendar year 2018, gross retransmission revenue was $355.4 million and retransmission revenue net of retransmission expense, was $190.4 million.
• Total Leverage Ratio, Net of all Cash - As of December 31, 2018, our total leverage ratio, as defined in our senior credit facility (as discussed further below), was 3.01 times on a trailing eight-quarter basis after netting our total cash (excluding restricted cash) balance of $667.0 million.
• Merger with Raycom Media, Inc. – On January 2, 2019, we completed the merger with Raycom Media, Inc. (“Raycom”), the related acquisitions of stations KYOU-TV and WUPV-TV and the divestiture of eight Raycom stations due to market overlaps (together, the “Raycom Merger”). Giving effect to the Raycom Merger, we own and/or operate television stations in 91 markets broadcasting almost 400 affiliates including nearly 150 affiliates of the ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX networks, as well as other networks and program streams. These stations are the number-one or number-two ranked stations in 86 of the 91 markets. In addition to the high quality television stations acquired as part of the merger, we also acquired businesses that provide sports marketing and production services, that we believe has made us a more diversified media company.
• Financing for the Raycom Merger– In connection with the Raycom Merger, we completed several financing transactions:
  • On November 16, 2018, we completed the offering of $750.0 million of 7.0% unsecured notes due 2027 (the “2027 Notes”) by our special purpose wholly-owned subsidiary. We assumed all obligations of the 2027 Notes upon completion of the Raycom Merger on January 2, 2019. As of December 31, 2018, the proceeds from this offering were held in escrow.
  • On January 2, 2019:
    • We amended our senior credit facility, pursuant to which we borrowed $1.4 billion of additional secured term loan financing and increased our un-drawn revolving credit facility to $200.0 million,
    • We issued $650.0 million of our 8.0% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, and
    • We issued 11.5 million shares of our common stock valued at $169.5 million.
• Network Affiliation Renewals. Coincident with and in the weeks after the Raycom Merger, we entered into agreements with the ABC network, CBS network and NBC network that extend the terms of the affiliation agreements for all ABC, CBS and NBC affiliated stations acquired in the Raycom Merger as well as the ABC affiliations for all of the legacy Gray stations.
• United Acquisition. On February 8, 2019, we announced that we entered into an agreement with United Communications, Inc. to acquire all three of its television stations for $45.0 million. Those stations are WWNY-TV (CBS) and WNYF-CD (FOX) in Watertown, New York (DMA 178) and KEYC-TV (CBS/FOX) in Mankato, Minnesota (DMA 199).
• Key Vendor Agreements. In January 2019, we expanded our relationship with Comscore, Inc. for local audience measurement for the entire legacy Gray footprint and for the majority of Raycom’s legacy footprint. Conversely, Gray’s stations in the Comscore markets will no longer acquire audience measurement services from Nielsen Co. In addition, we entered into an agreement to terminate the national advertising sales representation agreements that cover all television stations that we acquired in the Raycom Merger. As a result of this termination, we incurred a termination expense of approximately $27.6 million in the first quarter of 2019. Beginning on February 25, 2019, the former Raycom stations will join the legacy Gray stations in handling all local, regional, and national business directly with their buyers.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Gray Television (GTN) click here.