Paramount Skydance (PSKY) Stock Jumps 4% After Earnings Beat — But Guidance Stings

TLDR

• Paramount Skydance posted Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.23, beating the $0.15 Wall Street estimate; revenue rose 2% to $7.35 billion
• Paramount+ subscribers grew 2% to 79.6 million, slightly below the 79.9 million forecast
• TV Media revenue dropped 19% to $3.67 billion, worse than the expected 9.5% decline
• Q2 revenue guidance of $6.75–$6.95 billion missed analyst consensus of $7.07 billion
• The $81 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition remains on track to close by end of Q3 2026

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) stock rose as much as 4% in after-hours trading Monday after the company beat first-quarter earnings estimates. In premarket Tuesday, the stock was up 1.5% to $11.30, though it remains down 17% for the year.

Paramount Skydance Corporation Class B Common Stock, PSKY

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.23, well above the $0.15 analyst consensus. Revenue rose 2% to $7.35 billion, also beating estimates of $7.28 billion.

It was the company’s first earnings report since winning the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery in February.

Streaming was the bright spot. Revenue from Paramount’s direct-to-consumer segment rose 11% to $2.4 billion. Paramount+ specifically grew revenue 17% to $1.97 billion.

Subscriber numbers came in just shy of expectations. Paramount+ ended the quarter with 79.6 million subscribers, up 2% year over year, versus the 79.9 million forecast. The company credited shows like “Landman,” “The Madison,” and “Marshals” for driving growth.

The studios segment also posted gains, with revenue up 11% to $1.28 billion, boosted by “Scream 7” at the box office.

TV Decline Weighs on Results

The traditional TV business continues to drag. TV Media revenue fell 19% to $3.67 billion — far worse than the 9.5% decline analysts had penciled in. Both advertising and affiliate revenue contributed to the drop.

That’s the ongoing structural challenge for legacy media. Audiences keep migrating to streaming, and the ad dollars follow.

Q2 Guidance Disappoints

For Q2, Paramount guided for revenue of $6.75 billion to $6.95 billion. The midpoint of that range comes in below the $7.07 billion analyst consensus.

The company pointed to a tough comparison against strong theatrical revenue from the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 is expected to be between $900 million and $1 billion, above the $861.8 million analysts projected.

Full-year 2026 guidance was reiterated: $30 billion in revenue and $3.8 billion in adjusted EBITDA.

Paramount also flagged that Paramount+ subscriber growth will be “flattish” quarter over quarter in Q2. The company is exiting roughly 2 million international hard bundle subscriptions as part of a strategic shift.

The Warner Bros. Discovery deal, valued at $81 billion, received shareholder approval on April 23. Paramount confirmed Monday it expects to close the transaction by end of Q3 2026, subject to regulatory sign-off.

CEO David Ellison reaffirmed in his shareholder letter that the combined company plans to release 30 theatrical films annually once the deal closes.

Paramount competes directly with Netflix and Disney+ in streaming, and the Warner acquisition would add HBO Max to its portfolio.

The deal is pending regulatory review, with no further updates on that process provided in Monday’s release.

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