What happened?
Shares of global media and entertainment company iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) fell 62.3% in the morning session after the company reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings and issued disappointing full-year EBITDA guidance.
According to a company press release, iHeartMedia reported third-quarter revenue of $1.03 billion, up 3.3% year on year, and adjusted EBITDA of $170.5 million, down from $205 million in the prior-year period. However, both metrics fell short of Wall Street expectations. Full-year EBITDA was projected to reach $575 million at the midpoint, a target that fell significantly short of analyst forecasts of $776.8 million.
On the earnings call, CEO Bob Pittman explained that core broadcast radio underperformed because television broadcasters expanded inventory, absorbing political ad spending that typically spills over to radio. Pittman noted that large brand advertisers postponed campaigns until after the election, while audio buyers shifted to programmatic platforms faster than anticipated, running ahead of the company's AudioGraph rollout.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy iHeartMedia? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What is the market telling us
iHeartMedia’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 63 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for iHeartMedia and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 25 days ago when the stock dropped 7.9% on the news that The LSEG/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index fell 5.3 points from September to 45.2 in October 2026, the lowest reading since October 2011.
iHeartMedia is down 83% since the beginning of the year, and at $0.71 per share, it is trading 88.9% below its 52-week high of $6.33 from April 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of iHeartMedia’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $33.18.
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