AMC reports Q4 sales beat, but shares fall as subscriptions slide

AMC Networks Inc.
AMCX,
+0.21%
shares fell 3.6% in premarket trades Friday after the company’s fourth-quarter revenue took a hit from falling subscriptions. The network that’s home to “The Walking Dead” franchise reported a net loss of $11.4 million, or a loss of 50 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $391.6 million, or a loss of $6.11 a share in the prior year’s quarter. On an adjusted basis AMC Networks earned 72 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of 68 cents a share. AMC Networks reported revenue of $678.8 million, compared with $964.5 million in the prior year’s quarter, and above the FactSet estimate of $676 million. During the fourth quarter subscription revenues decreased 8% to $327 million, which AMC Networks attributed to declines in the linear subscriber universe. This, however, was partially offset by streaming revenues, which increased 4% to $145 million, the company said. AMC Networks shares have fallen 5.1% in the last 52 weeks, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX,
+0.06%
gain of 22.2%.