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E. W. Scripps Company Class A (SSP)
NASDAQ:SSP
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E. W. Scripps Company Class A (SSP) AI Stock Analysis

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SSP

E. W. Scripps Company Class A

(NASDAQ:SSP)

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Neutral 45 (OpenAI - 5.2)
Rating:45Neutral
Price Target:
$3.00
▲(0.33% Upside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:08/07/26
The score is held down primarily by weak and volatile financial performance (recent losses, margin compression) alongside elevated leverage, with bearish technicals reinforcing risk. The earnings call provides some offset via clearer cost-savings execution, liquidity extension, and CTV/sports/distribution progress, but near-term guidance and leverage/liquidity constraints keep the overall profile cautious.
Positive Factors
Connected TV (CTV) Growth
Scripps' 28% YoY CTV growth reflects a durable shift toward monetizable streaming inventory and audience migration. Strong CTV traction diversifies revenue away from declining linear ads, supports higher-yield advertising products, and underpins multi-year digital monetization and margin upside.
Negative Factors
Elevated Leverage and Tight Liquidity
High net leverage (~4.9x) combined with only $13M of quarter‑end cash materially constrains financial flexibility. This increases refinancing and covenant risk, limits ability to invest in growth or absorb ad-market shocks, and makes the company sensitive to execution slippage over the next 2–6 months.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Connected TV (CTV) Growth
Scripps' 28% YoY CTV growth reflects a durable shift toward monetizable streaming inventory and audience migration. Strong CTV traction diversifies revenue away from declining linear ads, supports higher-yield advertising products, and underpins multi-year digital monetization and margin upside.
Read all positive factors

E. W. Scripps Company Class A (SSP) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description
Operating as a diversified media organization, The E.W. Scripps Company, along with its affiliated entities, manages a collection of both regional and national media properties. Its operations are structured into three main divisions: Local Media,...
How the Company Makes Money
Scripps primarily makes money through advertising and distribution-related revenue across its local stations and national networks. A major revenue stream is selling advertising inventory (commercial spots) on local broadcast stations and on its n...

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Earnings Call Summary

Earnings Call Date:Aug 06, 2026
(Q2-2026)
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% Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Nov 11, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Neutral
The call presented a mixed picture: meaningful strategic progress (FCC ruling tailwind, accelerated transformation delivering a $100M run-rate by year-end, sports rights wins, distribution renewals, CTV growth, and active portfolio M&A) alongside substantial near-term headwinds (a $1.1B noncash impairment, large EPS loss, Nielsen measurement disruption, declining linear/network revenues, temporary carriage blackouts, workforce reductions, and higher leverage). Management emphasized confidence in the transformation and long-term opportunity but also acknowledged material uncertainty and near-term earnings pressure.
Positive Updates
Regulatory Development: FCC Lifts Broadcast Ownership Cap
FCC voted to lift the broadcast ownership cap, which management expects will level the playing field versus big tech/streaming and support M&A and other strategic options to create long-term value.
Negative Updates
Scripps Networks Revenue and Profit Decline
Scripps Networks revenue fell to $172 million (down 13% YoY) driven by linear viewing declines and Nielsen measurement changes; segment profit dropped to $26 million from $57 million year-over-year (a steep decline). Q3 Networks revenue is expected to be down in the mid-teens percent range.
Read all updates
Q2-2026 Updates
Negative
Regulatory Development: FCC Lifts Broadcast Ownership Cap
FCC voted to lift the broadcast ownership cap, which management expects will level the playing field versus big tech/streaming and support M&A and other strategic options to create long-term value.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Management raised its transformation cadence and provided detailed near‑term guidance and metrics: they now expect $100M of annual run‑rate savings by year‑end (part of a longer‑term $125–150M incremental enterprise EBITDA target by 2028) with estimated cash restructuring of $40–50M (Q2 restructuring was $36M—~$12M cash this quarter, ~$9M accrued, ~$15M non‑cash). For Q3 they see Local Media (same‑station) revenue up ~20% with core advertising down low‑double digits, Local Media expenses down low‑single digits, Scripps Networks revenue down mid‑teens with expenses up low‑single digits; full‑year political revenue is guided to $225–250M (vs $198M in 2022). Other items: Q2 Local Media revenue was $317M (‑1% YoY), Networks revenue $172M (‑13% YoY) with CTV up 28%, CapEx trimmed to $50–60M, a ~$5M net tax refund expected, quarter‑end cash $13M, net debt ~$2.2M, net leverage 4.9x, and $200M revolver commitments extended through July 2029; the quarter included a $1.1B non‑cash impairment and $36M restructuring (which together increased the loss attributable to shareholders by ~$11.83 per share).

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Financial Statement Overview

Summary
Overall fundamentals are weak: revenue has drifted down recently, profitability has been highly volatile with recent losses, and gross margin has compressed. The balance sheet is leveraged with reduced equity cushion and negative ROE in multiple periods, increasing downside/refinancing risk. Cash flow is the main offset, remaining positive with improved TTM free cash flow versus 2025, but coverage is still only modest relative to obligations.
Income Statement
22
Negative
Balance Sheet
28
Negative
Cash Flow
44
Neutral
BreakdownTTMDec 2025Dec 2024Dec 2023Dec 2022Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue2.09B2.15B2.51B2.29B2.45B2.28B
Gross Profit462.33M725.24M1.19B1.01B1.22B1.18B
EBITDA-953.11M-49.37M575.55M-598.89M598.03M514.17M
Net Income-1.23B-100.88M146.22M-947.78M195.90M122.71M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets3.65B5.01B5.20B5.41B6.43B6.66B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments13.05M27.92M23.85M35.32M18.03M66.22M
Total Debt0.002.71B2.69B3.05B3.01B3.26B
Total Liabilities3.55B3.76B3.88B4.25B4.30B4.69B
Stockholders Equity100.69M1.25B1.32B1.16B2.13B1.97B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow37.63M6.52M300.42M51.98M265.63M175.83M
Operating Cash Flow66.96M53.10M365.68M111.60M311.42M237.00M
Investing Cash Flow-28.66M-12.13M-26.54M-60.61M-66.39M-2.46B
Financing Cash Flow-42.03M-36.90M-350.61M-33.71M-327.48M693.48M

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Technical Analysis

Technical Analysis Sentiment
Neutral
Last Price2.99
Price Trends
50DMA
3.05
Negative
100DMA
3.56
Negative
200DMA
3.61
Negative
Market Momentum
MACD
-0.06
Positive
RSI
47.93
Neutral
STOCH
45.27
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For SSP, the sentiment is Neutral. The current price of 2.99 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 2.99, below the 50-day MA of 3.05, and below the 200-day MA of 3.61, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -0.06 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 47.93 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 45.27 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Neutral sentiment for SSP.

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Risk Analysis

E. W. Scripps Company Class A disclosed 19 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. E. W. Scripps Company Class A reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Peers Comparison

Overall Rating
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (60)
Financial Indicators
Name
Overall Rating
Market Cap
P/E Ratio
ROE
Dividend Yield
Revenue Growth
EPS Growth
60
Neutral
$48.67B4.58-11.27%4.14%2.83%-41.78%
56
Neutral
$1.03B-53.43-25.09%1.83%45.98%82.18%
50
Neutral
$56.96M-6.27-5.57%11.66%-4.10%-343.54%
49
Neutral
$41.99M-0.20-401.05%-14.99%-1938.45%
49
Neutral
$443.49M-2.91-3.43%8.04%-14.49%-164.07%
47
Neutral
$551.28M-1.9415.76%2.06%77.93%
45
Neutral
$257.23M-1.52-7.87%-13.33%-299.71%
* Communication Services Sector Average
Performance Comparison
Ticker
Company Name
Price
Change
% Change
SSP
E. W. Scripps Company Class A
3.32
0.80
31.75%
BBGI
Beasley Broadcast Group
22.11
17.81
414.19%
EVC
Entravision
11.97
9.71
428.48%
GTN
Gray Media
5.37
1.51
38.94%
SGA
Saga Communications
10.04
-1.81
-15.27%
IHRT
iHeartMedia
3.86
2.26
141.25%

E. W. Scripps Company Class A Corporate Events

Business Operations and StrategyM&A Transactions
Scripps Expands Mountain West Footprint With Station Swap
Positive
May 15, 2026
On May 15, 2026, The E.W. Scripps Company completed a previously announced local TV station swap with Gray Media across five mid-sized and small markets, expanding its footprint in the Mountain West. Under the even, cashless asset exchange, Scripp...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Disclaimer

This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.Date of analysis: Aug 07, 2026