Remember how, yesterday, we were looking at Mario Gabelli’s return for more documents about the Skydance / Paramount (PARA) merger? Well…he may have longer to get those documents than first thought. Paramount investors are not happy about this notion either, and shares slipped fractionally in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading.
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A New York Post report spelled out the disastrous news for the Skydance / Paramount merger: “regulatory purgatory.” The hopes of a “quick and clean” regulatory approval have all but vanished, to be replaced by a “long and slow” process. The report noted that management has not yet fully satisfied “fairness” conditions that regulators will insist upon.
Incoming Federal Communications Commission head Brendan Carr offered up some word about this, and the particular sticking point seems to be CBS News, which has been playing “fast and loose” with some of the most fundamental FCC rules. These include issues of “equal access” and avoiding taking sides with news programming, a point that has been raised more than once with the latest election cycle.
Taking on the Wildfires
The wildfires raging through California, noted a report from Fortune, are hurting businesses throughout the state, and Paramount is no exception. In fact, the report noted that wildfire smoke is currently a major part of the entire Paramount lot. Paramount is just miles away from the Hollywood Hills Sunset fire, the report noted. And several productions, ranging from Hacks to Ted to even long-running game show The Price is Right were paused amid the fire.
Paramount, for its part, has shut down some productions, and called off several planned events. Studio tours are shut down, employees who survived the layoffs are being encouraged to work remotely, and the studio is running “welfare checks” on employees.
Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on three Buys, seven Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 19.95% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.60 per share implies 19.37% upside potential.
