It is seldom a good idea to anger a sitting president. That is a point that entertainment giant Paramount (PARA) is finding out to its deep dismay. And said sitting president, President Trump, recently called for “…maximum fines and punishment” to land on Paramount as a result of its actions. Karma, as it turns out, is also getting its licks in. But all of this together could not completely silence investors, who sent shares up fractionally in the closing minutes of Monday’s trading.
We already know that President Trump is suing Paramount for $20 billion. But he also turned to his Federal Communications Committee (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, calling for Paramount-owned CBS to suffer greatly for its reporting. In fact, Trump is calling for CBS to lose its broadcast license as well as suffer the highest fines for what he termed “illegal” reporting.
But that reporting was not connected to the Kamala Harris interview on 60 Minutes. Rather, this is a completely new complaint, but also about 60 Minutes. Specifically, Trump took exception to two reports: one about the Russia / Ukraine war and one about the Greenland plan. Trump claimed that the reports depicted the country, and therefore his administration, “…falsely, inaccurately and fraudulently.” What parts of the report sparked the ire, however, were unclear.
Suddenly in Jeopardy on the Wheel of Fortune
And then, in a mood that suggests karma is backing President Trump, Paramount—again via CBS—took another blow. Earlier today, we reported that Sony (SONY) managed to come out ahead in a court case between itself and Paramount over two of the longest-running game shows known to man: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
Sony ultimately won the case, sort of—specifically, it won a “preliminary ruling based on partial evidence,” which gives Paramount some hope here—but for right now, Sony is now handling distribution of these two game shows. Paramount, via CBS, is filing an appeal, and it feels confident that it can win on the virtue of “the balance of harm,” which is currently tilted in CBS’ favor, reports note.
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 0.37% rally in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.33 per share implies 15.4% upside potential.
