Earnings Preview: Viacom, Inc

Viacom, Inc (VIA, VIA.B) is expected to report Q4 earnings Thursday with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for a profit of 83c on revenue of $4B. The consensus range is 79c to 87c for EPS, and revenue of $3.66B to $4.31B, according to First Call. While analysts expect Viacom to report an increased profit, they are also concerned about the company's advertising forecasts in this difficult environment.

Analyst Views

Soleil analysts noted that about 45% of Viacom's revenue stems from advertising, as well as a major part of its cable networks, and said they are "increasingly concerned" about the possibility of an economic slowdown in 2008. The analysts see advertising revenue at the cable networks up 6% to approximately $1.33B and believe revenue from Viacom's film studios will grow 15% to $1.81B on DVD results for its Paramount Studios. Additionally, Soleil expects to hear comments from Viacom on its thoughts regarding Blu-ray's victory over the HD-DVD format supported by Toshiba (TOSBF); Paramount recently said it would adopt Sony's (SNE) Blu-ray as its standard.

Further, analysts and investors will look to compare Viacom's earnings with that of CBS (CBS): CBS, from which Viacom was split in 2005, reported a 14.6% decline in Q4 earnings, which reflected, in part, slower advertising sales. Viacom recently dismissed rumors it would look to buy Take-Two (TTWO).