“He’ll Do a Great Job”: Trump Endorses Ellison, Paramount Stock (NASDAQ:PARA) Ticks Up

In what might be some kind of cosmic irony, President Donald Trump—who is currently suing entertainment giant Paramount (PARA) over an interview staged on 60 Minutes—came out in support of Skydance boss David Ellison. Ellison might be taking over Paramount before much longer, assuming the merger of the two actually goes through. But Trump’s endorsement proved good enough for investors, who sent shares up fractionally in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading.

Trump made it clear, declaring David Ellison “great,” and further noting that “he’ll do a great job.” Given that the merger that would allow Ellison even a chance to do that great job has not yet materialized, currently held up by not only Trump’s own lawsuit but also a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) review, it comes across as at least a bit ironic.

Interestingly, while being interviewed earlier today and coming out with the notion that Ellison would do well, Trump did not comment on what was actually holding up the works on the merger, whether with his own lawsuit or the FCC’s probes.

Another Corner Heard From

And the opposition to a settlement with the president proved to be a little stronger as of today, as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently came out with its own letter to Shari Redstone, offering up what one report called “…serious concerns about the potential implications of a settlement…” in the lawsuit in question.

The Committee’s letter, signed by committee chair Jacob Weisberg, noted that the “…lawsuit is without merit,” a point that at least some legal experts agree on. Not all of them do, of course, but when has there ever been a court case that had absolute agreement from every lawyer who looked at it? The letter went on to declare utter innocence for “the journalists and editors at CBS…” and that there was “…nothing inherently unethical or duplicitous” about their behavior in the matter. The letter also carried stark warnings about presidential administrations allowed to “…interfere with or influence editorial decisions” should the settlement go through, as it looks like it will.

Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on two Buys, eight Holds and five Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 18.99% rally in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.08 per share implies 0.25% upside potential.

See more PARA analyst ratings

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