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Companies to Watch: Amazon Prime Day announced, GrubHub upgrades, Tesla wins big

Amazon, GrubHub, Tesla, Sam’s Club and WarnerMedia are the companies to watch.

Is Verizon Stock A Buy? Tepid EPS, Sales Growth Vies With 5G Wireless

Verizon stock usually is a dividend play, as are the shares of its rival AT&T.; But Verizon 5G lies ahead. Here's what various analyses say about Verizon as 5G wireless comes into play.

AT&T’s Moving Averages Compared to Its Peers

On June 20, AT&T;’s 14-day relative strength index score was 59, which indicates that the company’s stock isn't oversold or overbought. T-Mobile and Sprint’s 14-day RSI scores were 62 and 64, respectively.

3 Top Dividend Stocks With Yields Over 5%

Let your money work for you by owning these high-yield stocks.

AT&T (T) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

AT&T (T) closed the most recent trading day at $32.59, moving +0.43% from the previous trading session.

Ann Sarnoff named CEO of Warner Bros.; first woman to lead the Hollywood studio

BBC executive Ann Sarnoff was named chief executive of Warner Bros. on Monday, making her the first woman to head the movie studio in its 96-year history. Her appointment follows the departure in March of Kevin Tsujihara, who stepped down after misconduct allegations.

AT&T invests $800M in San Antonio over three years

Dallas-based AT&T; Inc. (NYSE: T) said it has invested $800 million in the San Antonio-New Braunfels region over the past three years.

WarnerMedia names Ann Sarnoff as CEO of Warner Bros

Rocked by Stock Rout, ‘Hunger Games’ Studio Is Ready to Talk

(Bloomberg) -- The studio that brought you “The Hunger Games,’’ “Mad Men’’ and “John Wick’’ is now facing its own existential question.Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has lost more than half its market value over the last year as the once-idolized filmmaker struggles to find new megahits. On top of that, recent mergers have created entertainment behemoths that threaten to make smaller studios an afterthought in Hollywood’s new blockbuster environment.All that has created a new sense of urgency around the 22-year-old Lions Gate as it weighs its future: open itself to being acquired, sell off pieces, or try to bulk up to compete with the giants.“Some studios have scale and unfortunately some studios are now subscale,” said John Tinker, an analyst at Gabelli & Co. “The question is obviously, if you are a smaller studio and you do not own Marvel, what are you going to do?”Investors are worried and frustrated that management may have missed the M&A boat, said Geetha Ranganathan, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “Time and options seem to be running out.”Lions Gate shares fell as much as 5.3% Monday to a seven-year low of $11.38 in New York. The company declined to comment.The studio was formed in 1997 in Vancouver by movie-loving mining financier Frank Giustra. It made its name distributing R-rated movies like “American Psycho” and, with the acquisition of Summit Entertainment in 2012, was propelled into the big leagues by the teen-vampire “Twilight” film saga. That same year it also launched the “The Hunger Games’’ franchise. (The studio announced last week there might be a prequel.)But as a smaller company, Lions Gate has long been a target of merger speculation. Companies from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to Sony to CBS Corp. have been linked to potential deals. Two years ago, Lions Gate walked away from talks with game-maker Hasbro Inc. involving a $41 a share offer, worth almost $9 billion, people familiar with the situation said.Today, the stock trades below $12, weighed down by two years of declining revenue in its motion picture division, and merger talks have picked up again. Lions Gate has held informal discussions in the past year with companies that may be interested in buying the whole business, people with knowledge of the situation said. But with the stock at seven-year lows, the studio isn’t interested in selling itself at the moment, people close to the situation said.A handful of other strategies are under discussion. One is to buy a stake in Miramax, the film producer formerly owned by the Weinstein brothers, one of the people said. Its current owner, BeIn Media Group, has recently sought buyers for a minority stake. Such a move would give Lions Gate access to a library of Oscar-winning movies such as “Shakespeare in Love” and, more recently, revived franchises like “Halloween.” A Miramax spokesman declined to comment.Starz SaleThe company is also considering selling the studio’s pay-cable network Starz, which contributes more than half its profits. Lions Gate last month turned down a $5 billion informal bid from CBS for Starz, but a sale remains a possibility, according to people familiar with the situation. If that happens, industry sources say, a slimmed-down Lions Gate might become more attractive to potential bidders. Others suggest the studio would be a tough sell without Starz.Meanwhile, the studio is looking to raise perhaps several hundred million dollars from investors to expand Starz internationally. That effort will be slowed down by upcoming negotiations with AT&T’s DirecTV over fees to carry the channel.At recent stock prices, Lions Gate is valued at less than the sum of its parts, according to Tim Nollen, a Macquarie Capital analyst. Shares could be worth $21 in a breakup, with a $5 billion valuation for Starz, $1.5 billion for the motion picture unit and $1 billion for the TV segment.Malone StakeFor investors such as cable magnate John Malone, who first bought shares in 2015 at around $30, it’s a rare miss. He controls about 8% of Class A shares. Hedge fund manager Mark Rachesky, Lions Gate’s chairman, is the biggest investor with a 19% Class A stake. He has owned shares since 2004 and backed the studio in fighting off a takeover by Carl Icahn in 2010.A spokeswoman for Malone did not return requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Rachesky declined to comment.Trends sweeping Hollywood will only make it more difficult for Lions Gate to remain independent. The merging of Disney and Fox’s film companies, and AT&T and Time Warner Inc., along with Comcast’s Universal Pictures, has created a trio of studios that own and produce well-known blockbuster movie franchises, such as the Marvel superhero universe and DC Comics. The result is a small group of big films increasingly dominating the box office.Netflix ProductionMoreover, buyers for Lions Gate’s typically mid-budget fare may be shrinking. Disney and WarnerMedia are investing billions in making their own shows to lure subscribers to new streaming services. Netflix Inc., too, is producing more and more of its original content in-house, a big change from the early days when Lions Gate’s “Orange Is the New Black’’ helped make the streaming channel required viewing. That trend could lessen demand for TV programs and films made by independent studios.Lions Gate has had some successes lately. “John Wick: Chapter 3--Parabellum” helped lift it to fourth in the box office this year, ahead of competitors like Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures. And the studio is still finding buyers for its shows, recently selling to HBO, NBC and even streaming platforms run by WarnerMedia and Apple Inc.Jim Gianopulos, chief executive officer of one of the smaller shops, Paramount Studios, said that appealing programming will ultimately win out regardless of production size. “Scale has its virtues, but the creative process is independent of it,” Gianopulos said in an interview.But some analysts aren’t so confident.“For the longest time, people thought the studios would come out as the winners because they own the content,” Ranganathan said. But in the wake of the mergers, “You need established franchises. If you don’t have scale, you can’t compete.”(Updates with analyst’s comment in fifth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net;Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net, ;Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Larry ReibsteinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Boston-based ISP eyes expansion of $50 per month internet package to Atlanta

Internet service provider Starry Inc. has plans to expand into Georgia in the coming years. The ISP recently paid 48.5 million for 102 licenses in the Federal Communication Commission’s 24 GHz auction.

A Look at WarnerMedia’s Streaming Service

Last year, AT&T's (T) Time Warner started looking to enter the high-growth online streaming space. A report from the Wall Street Journal stated that WarnerMedia’s streaming service would be available for $16–$17 per month, meaning WarnerMedia will be the highest priced major streaming platform.

AT&T’s Warner Bros. will be led by first female CEO after recent tumult

Warner Bros. is getting its first female CEO after the last leader left amid an investigation into potential inappropriate behavior.   AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit is bringing on Ann Sarnoff, who is currently President, BBC Studios Americas (formerly BBC Worldwide Americas), the company said in a news release. Sarnoff, who also will be chair, has a background that includes Viacom, the NBA and Dow Jones. “She brings a consistent and proven track record of innovation, creativity and business results to lead an incredibly successful studio to its next chapter of growth,” WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said in the release.

How Netflix Stacks Up amid Intensifying Streaming Competition

While Netflix (NFLX) continues to be a market leader in the streaming space, it's facing competition from Hulu, Amazon Prime (AMZN), the Walt Disney Company (DIS), YouTube (GOOGL), Apple TV, and WarnerMedia (T). Let's look at the overall video streaming market and how these players stack up.

AT&T’s Current Valuation Compared to Its Peers

On June 19, AT&T; (T) had a trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA multiple of 6.86x—compared to its peers. T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) had trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA multiples of 7.93x and 4.94x, respectively.

Will Spurt in Addressable TV Ads Mar FB, GOOGL's Duopoly?

Competition in advertising market gathers steam with television industry poised to take a major leap with addressable advertising.

AT&T and Its Peers: Analysts’ Recommendations

Analysts have set a mean target price of $33.50 on AT&T; stock, which implies a potential return of 3.4% based on its closing price of $32.41 on June 19.

BlackBerry (BB) Gears Up for Q1 Earnings: What Lies Ahead?

Increased market traction for reliable products and services will likely help BlackBerry (BB) to record higher revenues in first quarter fiscal 2020.

Crown Castle (CCI) Expands Credit Facility, Extends Maturity

Crown Castle's (CCI) expanded credit facility and extended maturity date provides the company with balance-sheet strength and supports its growth endeavors.

AT&T 5G network has some of the fastest speeds we've seen

We spent the day at AT&T's Shape event in Los Angeles testing a Galaxy S10 5G phone on the new 5G Plus network. In short: it was crazy fast.