Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) had a very quiet session after the sharp drop on Thursday, on the back of a slightly disappointing result for the 3QFY15. The volume remained high for the last two sessions of the week, reaching 23 million on Friday against the daily average of 13 million. The company reported earnings per share of $0.42, about 7.4% higher than the consensus figure of $0.39. On the other hand, the revenue at $6.84 billion against the expected $6.87 billion disappointed the market a bit.
The Cable Networks segment of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) generated higher than expected domestic revenue, driven by higher affiliate revenue growth but the international revenue came lower than the company’s expectations, driven by foreign exchange headwinds and lower local currency international advertisement. One of the notable performers was the Television segment, as adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization exceeded the expectations by $20 million.
Technically, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) is at a very interesting point and quite possibly, the price action here will determine the long term trend decisively. As the attached chart clearly shows, the stock has enjoyed a fantastic bull market from the 2009 low and the entire rise has been perfectly contained in a long term channel. Now the price shows the first hint of a break below that channel, which is a sign of weakness at least. The year of 2014 saw the stock mostly stuck in the range of $30-$36 and a failed attempt to break out above the range. That false breakout is a danger signal for the long term bulls, which is pushing the price towards $30-$31, the lower boundary of that range. If the correction is not finished by $30 levels, then the decline may extend to $25 or even $22 levels.
