We all knew that entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was about to lose its CFO once Gunnar Wiedenfels ascends to take over the CEO slot of Discovery Global. You know, when Discovery Global actually exists. But who would end up in the CFO slot at Warner? Brad Singer will be stepping in on that one, and investors are particularly cheery about this, sending Warner shares up nearly 3% in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading.
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Brad Singer will be coming in, starting as a “strategic advisor,” with a line to take over the CFO slot just as soon as it is vacated by Wiedenfels’ departure to Discovery Global. Singer is actually rather familiar with the operation, or at least with elements of it. Singer was the CFO of Discovery Communications back when David Zaslav was its leader.
Not surprisingly, Zaslav had plenty of good things to say about his former, now current, co-worker, saying, “Brad was instrumental in driving significant value creation and growth during our time together at Discovery Communications, and I’m thrilled to be reuniting with a trusted leader whose financial expertise and strategic vision have consistently delivered results. His proven track record combined with his sharp understanding of emerging technologies and evolving consumer trends will make him a tremendous addition to the new Warner Bros. leadership team.”
Superman Proves a Winner
We heard about Superman‘s success at the box office when it came out a while back, but as it turns out, it was actually a bigger success than anyone thought. The James Gunn version managed to pull in a serious win by hitting the list of all-time domestic releases from Warner.
Superman‘s domestic box office take hit $347 million, which was enough to push it past the $345.5 million brought in by The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. That was enough to put Superman on the bottom of the top 10 list, needing just another $9.8 million to beat American Sniper for ninth. This should assert the James Gunn version of the DC Universe and give Warner a solid platform going forward.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on 10 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 48.06% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $13.86 per share implies 14.31% upside potential.
