For a while, ITV (LSE: ITV) seemed to be bouncing back into favour with investors. The first half of this year saw the share rally sharply. But while the ITV share price is still 23% higher than it was at the start of the year, it has been losing steam lately and is now lower than it was in July.
This is a bit confusing, I reckon. After all, there is a lot to like about the media company. But the company, already in pennies, seems to be going nowhere fast.
What might be going on?
Ongoing problems, inconsistent delivery
To start with, what might be the reason for the ITV share price’s weak performance?
Some investors reckon this is a business with its best days behind it. Having one of a limited number of national commercial television businesses was once a license to print money. But the media landscape is now far more fragmented — and so are audience tastes.
To combat that, ITV has been trying to beef up its digital offer. It has been doing quite well on that score but there are a couple of challenges. First, building the digital side of operations is costly, eating into profits. Meanwhile, the economics of digital broadcasting still are not as attractive as selling advertising on terrestrial television used to be.
ITV’s mixed performance in recent years has also not helped inspire confidence in the City. There is a reason the shares have fallen 40% in five years.
Potential value share hiding in plain sight
Still, that price fall has had the benefit of pushing up the dividend yield even while the dividend per share is held flat. With a 6.5% dividend yield, the FTSE 250 could be a juicy passive income generator.
That relies on the company maintaining the payout per share at its current level, something it has consistently said it aims to do as a minimum. That is not guaranteed however.
I think the business also has considerable strengths. While an advertising downturn remains a risk, the broadcasting business remains a significant cash spinner. Over time I expect the increased focus on digital broadcasting to help the company grow its viewer base and potentially revenues too.
Additionally, ITV has its Studios business that earns money by renting out facilities and production expertise to a wide range of broadcasters.
ITV looks cheap but has risks
On balance, I think the ITV share price looks cheap for a company of its quality. The market capitalisation is £3bn and ITV trades on a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.
But the share price has been waning lately and clearly not all investors share my enthusiasm for the potential value on offer.
Bearing in mind those risks though, I see ITV as a share investors should consider buying at its current price.
