Gunnar Wiedenfels, CFO at Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), recently added 15,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 2 percent, and came to a total cost just over $168,300.
This is the first insider activity since last August, when the company’s international division president bought 20,000 shares at a price about 25 percent higher than where the stock trades today. The last insider sale occurred in November 2021.
Overall, company insiders own 9.2 percent of shares.
The media conglomerate is down 36 percent over the past year, as earnings and profits have declined. While WBD lost money overall, it did manage to increase revenues by nearly 239 percent.
At present, like many media companies, the prospect of a slowing economy and less spending on advertising could weigh on shares. But the stock has been knocked down to about two-thirds of its book value, a proxy for the value of its intellectual property.
Action to take: Investors may like shares at current prices or on any drop as a contrarian play right now. Shares can likely recover in time, particularly if the company can keep expenses low and continue to build out alternatives to an advertising model.
For traders, the October $12.50 calls, last going for about $1.05, offer mid-double-digit returns or better on a move higher in shares in the coming months. The stock has been in a downtrend recently, but is starting to look oversold.
Disclosure: The author of this article has a position in the company mentioned here, and may further trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.