In the last few years, the shift from traditional news media to online continued steadily. Investors who held stocks in the former sector lost money.
News Corporation (NWS) dropped by 6.35% to close at $25.65 last week. It earned $0.40 a share (non-GAAP) as revenue of $2.36 billion grew by 5.4%. When asked about the impact that AI had on its services or data spaces, CEO Robert Thompson explained fundamental misconceptions.
Thompson said that AI synthesized generic content imperfectly at times. To protect against the AI onslaught, News Corp. is creating proprietary content that AI may access if it pays for it. For example, Anthropic will pay $1.5 billion for the inappropriate use of pirated books. The authors will get most of that money.
VeriSign (VRSN) dropped by 7.6% to close below $225. This is a price not seen in a year. The firm still trades at a premium valuation at a forward P/E of 24.2 times. The domain name seller reported a Q4 GAAP EPS of $2.23. Revenue grew by 7.5% Y/Y to $425 million.
VRSN stock is not an attractive income stock. Though it raised its dividend by 5.2% to $0.81, the forward yield is only 1.44%. Still, the company is a potential turnaround pick. It plans to leverage providing DNS and security technology. That changes the company to a cybersecurity play.
