Key Notes
- Versant earned 34 cents per share on $1.594 billion in revenue, topping estimates even as sales fell 4.2% from a year earlier.
- Platforms revenue rose 9.6% with help from Fandango, while traditional television distribution revenue fell 5.8%.
- Versant now expects free cash flow above its prior annual range and plans another $100 million accelerated share repurchase.
Versant Media Group (Nasdaq: VSNT), the owner of CNBC and MS NOW, raised its 2026 free cash flow outlook and announced plans to buy back another $100 million of stock after third-quarter earnings topped Wall Street estimates. The Comcast spinoff kept its full-year sales and adjusted earnings forecasts in place. Versant results
Versant earned 34 cents a share on revenue of $1.594 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected earnings of 5 cents a share and revenue of $1.57 billion, according to CNBC, which is owned by Versant. Revenue fell 4.2% from a year earlier, and net income attributable to Versant declined to $47 million from $80 million. CNBC
Fandango Grows as Cable Distribution Slips
Traditional television distribution remained Versant’s largest revenue source at $935 million, nearly 59% of total sales. Distribution revenue fell 5.8% as the company lost subscribers, with higher contractual rates cushioning the decline. Advertising fell 5.3% to $373 million, partly because the prior-year quarter included the Ryder Cup. Earnings filing
Platforms revenue rose 9.6% to $245 million, helped by Fandango movie ticket purchases and sales from its cinema operating platform. Excluding the sale of SportsEngine and the acquisition of golf simulator maker Full Swing, Platforms revenue grew 17.4%. On the reported figures, Platforms added $21 million from a year earlier, while traditional television distribution lost $57 million.
Versant completed its planned pay-TV distribution renewals for the year. Chief Executive Mark Lazarus told analysts that 75% of the company’s network subscribers were covered by contracts running into 2028 or beyond. The company launched MS NOW Membership during the quarter and expects CNBC’s own direct-to-consumer offering to launch in early 2027. Earnings call
Cash Flow Outlook Supports Another Buyback
Quarterly adjusted EBITDA fell 20.9% to $353 million on the reported comparison. It fell 7.4% against the prior year’s standalone adjusted figure, which estimates the costs Versant would have carried outside Comcast. The company generated $346 million in operating cash and reported $302 million in free cash flow after capital spending. Financial tables
Versant now expects full-year free cash flow to exceed the top of its former $1 billion to $1.2 billion range. It reaffirmed revenue guidance of $6.2 billion to $6.45 billion and adjusted EBITDA guidance of $1.9 billion to $2.05 billion. The company completed a $100 million accelerated repurchase in the third quarter and expects to start another on November 4, with completion by year-end.
The board declared a quarterly dividend of 37.5 cents a share, payable January 25 to shareholders of record at the close on January 4. Versant’s results show one approach to managing the industry’s cable transition, alongside the cost cuts and television overhaul we previously reported at Disney.
