Analyst Review Alert: Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA)

Analysts are weighing in on how Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA)  , might perform in the near term. Wall Street analysts have a much less favorable assessment of the stock, with a mean rating of 2.9. The stock is rated as buy by 3 analysts, with 3 outperform and 19 hold rating. The rating score is on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 stands for strong buy and 5 stands for strong sell.

For the current quarter, the 20.00 analysts offering adjusted EPS forecast have a consensus estimate of $0.55 a share, which would compare with $0.44 in the same quarter last year. They have a high estimate of $0.59 and a low estimate of $0.50. Revenue for the period is expected to total nearly $1.71B from $1.65B the year-ago period.

For the full year, 20.00 Wall Street analysts forecast this company would deliver earnings of 1.92 per share, with a high estimate of $2.00 and a low estimate of $1.79. It had reported earnings per share of $1.58 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue for the period is expected to total nearly $6.63B versus 6.39B in the preceding year.

The analysts project the company to maintain annual growth of around 12.15% percent over the next five years as compared to an average growth rate of 15.16% percent expected for its competitors in the same industry.

Among the 23 analysts Data provided by Thomson/First Call tracks, the 12-month average price target for DISCA is $29.74 but some analysts are projecting the price to go as high as $37.00. If the optimistic analysts are correct, that represents a 35 percent upside potential from the recent closing price of $27.33. Some sell-side analysts, particularly the bearish ones, have called for $23.00 price targets on shares of Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA)  .

In the last reported results, the company reported earnings of $0.44 per share, while analysts were calling for share earnings of $0.48. It was an earnings surprise of -8.30%percent. In the matter of earnings surprises, the term Cockroach Effect is often implied. Cockroach Effect is a market theory that suggests that when a company reveals bad news to the public, there may be many more related negative events that have yet to be revealed. In the case of earnings surprises, if a company is suggesting a negative earnings surprise it means there are more to come.

Discovery Communications, Inc. operates as a media company worldwide. It operates through U.S. Networks; International Networks; and Education and Other segments. The company owns and operates various television networks under the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science, Velocity, Discovery Family, American Heroes, Destination America, Discovery Life, Oprah Winfrey Network, Eurosport, DMAX, and Discovery Kids brands. Its content spans genres, including survival, exploration, sports, lifestyle, general entertainment, heroes, adventure, crime and investigation, health, and kids. The company also develops and sells curriculum-based education products and services comprising online suite of curriculum-based VOD tools, professional development services, and digital textbooks, as well as student assessments; and publishes hard copy curriculum-based content for K-12 schools. In addition, it operates production studios that develop content for television service providers, as well as Websites. The company provides content through various distribution platforms, including pay-TV, free-to-air and broadcast television, digital distribution arrangements, and content licensing agreements, as well as various platforms, such as brand-aligned Websites, Web-native networks, on-line streaming, mobile devices, video on demand (VOD), and broadband channels. As of December 31, 2015, it operated approximately 380 distribution feeds in 40 languages internationally. The company is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.