There was great news today for entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), which is great, because the news has not been especially good for some time now. Data emerged around Warner’s subscriber count for its Max streaming service, and the numbers were up, marvelously. Sufficiently so, in fact, that Warner shares blasted up nearly 10% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Warner’s streaming numbers were a thing of beauty. For the fourth quarter, Warner posted $2.65 billion in streaming revenue, which was up 5% against the fourth quarter of 2023, when it brought in $2.53 billion. Further, Warner’s Max added fully 6.4 million new subscribers as people took a look at what Warner had to offer and found it palatable.
Moreover, Warner does not expect these numbers to slow down very much, if at all. Warner, reports note, is convinced it is on a track to hit 150 million total subscribers by the end of 2026. Max is doing so well, Warner notes, thanks to its global focus. Max will be available on Sky in the United Kingdom, and in Ireland, starting in 2026’s second quarter. Before that, Italy and Germany will get in on the action, which should bring in more subscribers as well.
Meanwhile In Sports
While Warner took a bit of a hit from the loss of NBA streaming—which means no professional basketball on TNT for the first time in what reports call “several decades”—it is certainly not giving up. In fact, it is exhibiting what it calls a “disciplined” sports strategy, which should ultimately help stem the overall decline in linear television, or “pay-TV.”
Warner may have lost a lot of NBA rights, but it still has international rights, which it will certainly use. It will also continue to offer Inside the NBA, commonly regarded as a leader among studio shows covering sports. Given that Disney’s (DIS) ESPN has licensed Inside the NBA, that is a good sign. Perhaps not as good as some might like giving the ongoing crumbling of linear television, but still welcome.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on six Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 31.92% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $12.63 per share implies 9.21% upside potential.
