It’s another big day of Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA) news, as another shareholder came out against the Redstone deal with Skydance Media. Meanwhile, a whole slew of movies was announced via the recent CinemaCon show, and it’s clear that Paramount will have a stuffed slate at the box office for much of the rest of the year. However, that didn’t prove much help, as the media giant was down nearly 3% in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading.
This time, Ariel Investments—who holds 1.8% of the company and has been a shareholder for a long time now—came out against the deal, believing it would be better for all concerned to open up the floor to “competitive bids.” Although there were two other bids at last report, including the one from Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and one from Byron Allen, their current status is unclear as the Skydance bid seems to have taken the catbird seat. Ariel Investments isn’t alone here, either, with Aspen Sky Trust and Matrix Asset Advisors also calling for a different deal.
But Then The Good News Hit
Certainly the M&A news is the big story here, but there are some other stories contributing to Paramount’s overall narrative right now. A new report from Zacks Investment Research upgraded Paramount to a Strong Buy, declaring that rising earnings estimates are in play here, and it’s likely that we’ll see an “…improvement in the company’s underlying business.”
With a host of new properties set to hit theaters, that improvement may be sooner seen than we expect. New titles range from earlier-noted releases like The Smurfs and Scary Movie to more recent announcements like a Star Trek origin film and a long-awaited sequel in Gladiator 2. Just to top it off, a new combination of Transformers and GI Joe will hit theaters as well, among others.
What Is Paramount Global’s Stock Target?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on six Buys, eight Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 49.86% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $13.29 per share implies 21.37% upside potential.
