Paramount Global shares fell nearly 9% midway through the trading day after veteran media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich delivered a harsh verdict on the stock.
The BofA Securities analyst downgraded the stock to “underperform,” or sell, in a blistering note to clients whose headline declared that shares are “hard to buy if it’s not for sale.” Her move is known in financial market circles as a “double downgrade,” meaning Reif Ehrlich all at once took her rating down two notches, from “buy” to “underperform,” bypassing “market perform” (neutral).
Elaborating on the headline of her note, Ehrlich explained that her previous optimism about the stock was “predicated on Paramount’s inherent asset value in a potential sale.
Despite receiving credible bids for several different assets (e.g., Showtime and BET), it does not appear any significant asset sales are on the horizon.” The news followed Paramount’s upbeat earnings report last week, which boosted its shares thanks to the company’s revelation that peak streaming losses had occurred in 2022.
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