Paramount Stock (NASDAQ:PARA) Gains: George Cheeks the Weakest Link?

Right now we know that things are fractious at best at entertainment giant Paramount (PARA). We have factions building, trying to keep the government happy long enough to get the Skydance merger through. We have other factions fighting back to keep Paramount more “independent.” And in the midst of all this is George Cheeks, one of Paramount’s CEOs, who has the unfortunate duty right now of being in charge of CBS. Yet there seems to be some faith in his ability to pull things through, and Paramount shares were up fractionally in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading.

Right now, Cheeks has several major issues on his hands. Tensions within CBS News are on the rise, as it faces a lawsuit from a sitting president, and one that could be—though virtually everyone is saying that it will not—in line to have an impact on the Skydance merger. But the merger is not Cheeks’ sole concern. Cheeks is also facing issues from advertisers, who are cutting back for a variety of reasons ranging from economic conditions to concern about the network itself. With plenty of competitors, there are places for Cheeks’ advertisers to go that do not have so many problems right now.

And throw in concerns over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and it becomes clear that just trying to keep things looking reasonably close to status quo is a downright Herculean task. With another round of job cuts set to come next month—which may still see the Skydance merger not yet completed—and it is enough to wonder if the whole thing will crack up altogether before an ending can be reached.

Hawking Jeeps

In a much calmer development, though, Paramount is working with Stellantis (STLA) on a new partnership effort between the Jeep brand and Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning. This is the first time that Jeep and Mission: Impossible have gotten together, reports note, and it is likely hoped that the adventuresome spirit of both brands will be able to work together well on this campaign.

The result is a 30 second commercial known as “Top-Down Inspection”, which will be put to work across a variety of platforms ahead of the release of the movie starting May 23, Memorial Day Weekend. Throw in the fact that two Jeeps will be seen in the movie itself—the Wrangler 4xe and the Gladiator—and Stellantis may get some real mileage out of this campaign.

Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on PARA stock based on two Buys, seven Holds and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 6.57% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12 per share implies 1.05% upside potential.

See more PARA analyst ratings

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