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CHICAGO (AFX) -- Most diversified media and entertainment stocks closed lower to begin the week Monday.
Walt Disney Co. shed 1% to $26.41; Sony Corp. fell nearly 2% to $48.73; Viacom slipped 0.4% to $42.77, and Time Warner lost 0.3% to $18.27.
Analyst William Drewry at Credit Suisse First Boston said the next catalyst for the media conglomerates will be "emerging visibility" on first-quarter earnings, which he believes "should be fairly strong for the group." A series of conferences and presentations during the next several weeks will provide further insight for investors, he added in a note to clients.
Drewry maintains his overweight rating on media shares.
Noting that Time Warner slightly underperformed last week, Drewry says the market "seems to have little confidence that there is anything significant" from the report, commissioned by billionaire financier Carl Icahn, by Lazard. Lazard recommended the company be split up into four separate publicly traded entities.
Time Warner shares are up 4% year-to-date, and Drewry says the main reasons are the company's better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings report and its accelerated share buyback program, now at $12 billion. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see
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