Belo Market Value

Regarding that Belo Corp. stock you've been eyeing: Buy, buy, buy. So says Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa this morning, who's upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy" just because it's so damned cheap -- $20.62 at opening bell this a.m. Furukawa says Belo's stock is worth picking up just for...

By Robert Wilonsky

May 29, 2007

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Regarding that Belo Corp. stock you've been eyeing: Buy, buy, buy. So says Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa this morning, who's upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy" just because it's so damned cheap -- $20.62 at opening bell this a.m. Furukawa says Belo's stock is worth picking up just for the company's TV properties: "If the profit generated by Belo's television business, which runs more than 20 stations, was valued at the same multiple as other TV companies, Furukawa said it would be worth $3.64 billion. Based on Belo's current stock price, the entire company is worth just $2.26 billion."

So what accounts for the deep discount? Belo's four newspaper properties, natch, especially The Dallas Morning News. Essentially, says the analyst, if you buy Belo, yer taking the newspapers for free. Seems like a new telemarketing pitch in the making. --Robert Wilonsky

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