: News Corp stock rises as results beat, despite ‘clearly insipid’ advertising backdrop
News Corp NWSA , the parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones, reported fiscal third-quarter results on Thursday that beat expectations, helped by revenue trends outside advertising and a “decidedly more positive” economic backdrop, and the media company said it expected to save more than it once expected from planned layoffs. Shares rose 1.7% in after-hours trade on the news. The company — also the parent of the publisher HarperCollins and, under the Dow Jones banner, media outlets like Barron’s and the Wall Street Journal — reported net income of $59 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with $104 million, or 14 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 2% to $2.45 billion, compared with $2.49 billion in the prior-year quarter, with currency fluctuations weighing on the top-line figure. Adjusted earnings per share were also 9 cents, compared with 16 cents a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings per share of 5 cents, on revenue of $2.38 billion. NewsCorp said it expected to reach at least $160 million in annualized savings from plans to reduce staff by 5%, more than a prior forecast. “In a period in which advertising was clearly insipid in certain parts of the world, our core non-advertising revenue has been particularly robust, highlighted by a 38 percent increase in revenues at the Dow Jones professional information business,” Chief Executive Robert Thomson said in a statement, adding that macro and sector trends were “decidedly more positive.”
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