Communications

Report by Huber Research Partners

Trade Desk fell ~70% in 2025, but Douglas Arthur sees fears around Amazon DSP competition as overdone. Forecasts for CTV and Retail Media - two critical end-markets - remain robust, while TTD remains a double-digit grower with high margins and a strong net cash position.
WPP, down 55% last year and trading at ~4x depressed EBITDA, is showing early signs of stabilisation through recent net new client wins. A new CEO from Microsoft is expected to refocus the business on a simplified, more customer-oriented model to restore revenue momentum.
Disney has been sidelined in 2025, but recent box office releases (Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash) have been solid, while both Experiences and Streaming are contributing to bottom line growth. A decision on CEO Iger’s successor is expected in early 2026 - likely Josh D’Amaro - which Douglas believes could refocus investor attention once WBD-related noise fades.

Communications

Report by Huber Research Partners

Craig Huber downgrades NFLX to Underweight following its $82.7bn agreement to acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s studios, HBO and HBO Max streaming assets - a major strategic shift he views as unnecessarily risky. He argues the deal brings significant regulatory hurdles, adds heavy leverage and could slow NFLX’s organic revenue growth while pressuring margins. Large US media acquisitions rarely succeed and NFLX had excelled for 15+ years without pursuing major M&A. With the deal likely taking 12-18 months to close, Craig expects a prolonged stock overhang. Re. Paramount’s hostile bid, he believes PSKY would need to raise its offer to $32/share to fully entice shareholders away from NFLX’s attractive proposal.

Communications

Report by Spin-Off Research

Joe Cornell offers a detailed analysis of WBD’s planned spin-off of its Streaming & Studios segments. The move mirrors a broader media trend to separate faster-growing streaming assets from legacy cable operations. The split enhances strategic flexibility - Streaming & Studios could become a more attractive M&A target, while Linear Networks might be paired with a similar business. Joe’s SOTP valuation yields a consolidated target price of $15.00 per share (adjusting for a ~20.0% stake in the Streaming & Studios businesses) for WBD, which implies a potential upside of ~30% from the current market price.

Report by MYST Advisors

While all the stocks presented at MYST's latest buyside event could be considered undervalued, many offered significant (i.e. >50%) upside. The most differentiated ideas included: Blackbaud (improving fundamentals more apparent post-EVERFI divestiture; potential M&A target); HealthEquity (new legislation fuelling dramatic TAM expansion + bond portfolio repricing tailwinds); and JBS (multiple to expand as US listing drives increased passive ownership / index inclusion). More familiar names discussed included: Fluor (huge NuScale Power (SMR) monetisation catalyst not reflected in Street estimates); Teva Pharmaceutical (generics cash cow enabling innovative branded portfolio pipeline development); and Warner Bros. Discovery (well positioned for media consolidation wave amid forthcoming business separation).

Communications

Report by Arete Research

Arete sees a $4.5-5bn EBITDA improvement from streaming by the end of the decade and thinks that the expected loss of the NBA means that '26E will likely mark the low-point of group EBITDA (at ~$9.4bn), before international streaming growth is sufficient to offset linear declines. The market is clearly not expecting any stabilisation right now, with the stock implied at <3x P/FCF in '25E. Leverage should hit management's 2.5-3 turn target range in '25E and WBD would then be able to buy back stock very accretively. This scenario creates a significant potential upside case, with Arete’s revised TP of $24 implying the shares could more than triple, and yet still trade only at ~10x trough P/FCF.

Communications

Report by Arete Research

DTC subscriber growth has stalled in the face of price increases, marketing cuts and future content reductions, while the company’s cost allocation accounting means streaming losses in FY22 ($3.4bn) were understated relative to the accounting policies of Warner Bros Discovery / Comcast to the tune of $2.5bn, giving an indication of the challenges. Despite assuming a DIS / Hulu merger, Arete expects DTC to generate one-third less EBITDA long-term than they previously modelled and have lowered their TP from $94 to $65 (25% downside).

Communications

Report by Arete Research

The heavy lifting on restructuring is now largely complete (Paramount and Disney are just starting theirs) with expenses down $2.8bn and cash content spending running at ~$4bn/qtr. Studios look likely to recover from 2H23, advertising looks to have bottomed, and the new Max streaming platform has a good mix of content that should be attractive to all viewers meaning top and bottom line should show amelioration from here. Arete forecasts EBITDA of $11.2bn in 2023 and FCF of $4.4bn. For 2024, they expect a further improvement in EBITDA to $13.1bn and FCF to jump to $5.9bn (net debt declines to $36.1bn (2.8x) allowing a buyback to start late in the year). TP $31 (130% upside).