As the Q3 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the traditional media & publishing industry, including EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) and its peers.

The sector faces structural headwinds from declining linear TV viewership, shifts in advertising spend toward digital platforms, and ongoing challenges in monetizing print and broadcast content. However, for companies that invest wisely, tailwinds can include AI, the power of which can result in more personalized content creation and more detailed audience analysis. These can create a flywheel of success where one feeds into the other. Still there are outstanding questions around AI-generated content oversight, and the regulatory framework around this could evolve in unseen ways over the next few years.

The 4 traditional media & publishing stocks we track reported a very strong Q3. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 0.8% below.

Luckily, traditional media & publishing stocks have performed well with share prices up 15.3% on average since the latest earnings results.

Weakest Q3: EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS)

Following its 2023 acquisition of DISH Network, EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) provides satellite communications, pay-TV services, wireless networks, and broadband solutions across consumer and enterprise markets.

EchoStar reported revenues of $3.61 billion, down 7.1% year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 3.1%. Overall, it was a slower quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates.

"EchoStar will soon be in the unique position of having substantial available capital, vastly changing its scope of opportunities. Through EchoStar Capital we will fuel EchoStar's growth into new and complementary arenas, beyond its successful pay-TV, wireless and enterprise business units," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO, EchoStar Capital.

EchoStar delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates of the whole group. Interestingly, the stock is up 62.3% since reporting and currently trades at $117.39.

Read our full report on EchoStar here, it’s free.

Best Q3: Sinclair (NASDAQ: SBGI)

With over 2,400 hours of local news produced weekly and 640 broadcast channels reaching millions of American homes, Sinclair (NASDAQ: SBGI) operates a network of 185 local television stations across 86 U.S. markets, producing news programming and distributing content from major networks.

Sinclair reported revenues of $773 million, down 15.7% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 0.6%. The business had an exceptional quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and full-year revenue guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 10.5% since reporting. It currently trades at $15.06.

Is now the time to buy Sinclair? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Wiley (NYSE: WLY)

With roots dating back to 1807 when Charles Wiley opened a small printing shop in Manhattan, John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: WLY) is a global academic publisher that provides scientific journals, books, digital courseware, and knowledge solutions for researchers, students, and professionals.

Wiley reported revenues of $421.8 million, down 1.1% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 1.3%. It may have had the worst quarter among its peers, but its results were still good as it also locked in a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ full-year EPS guidance estimates.

As expected, the stock is down 17.2% since the results and currently trades at $31.39.

Read our full analysis of Wiley’s results here.

IMAX (NYSE: IMAX)

Originally developed for World Expo '67 in Montreal as an innovative projection system, IMAX (NYSE: IMAX) provides proprietary large-format cinema technology and systems that deliver immersive movie experiences with enhanced image quality and sound.

IMAX reported revenues of $106.7 million, up 16.6% year on year. This number topped analysts’ expectations by 0.6%. It was an exceptional quarter as it also recorded a beat of analysts’ EPS and revenue estimates.

IMAX achieved the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is up 5.7% since reporting and currently trades at $33.90.

Read our full, actionable report on IMAX here, it’s free.

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