Sinclair Broadcast Up 6.8% On Earnings Beat (SBGI)

Shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. SBGI are trading up 6.8% at $6.40 per share during the Wednesday afternoon trading session. The day's trading range for shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. has been between $6.08 and $6.46 per share. Analysts covering the company's stock give it a consensus price target of $7.75 per share. Despite the surging stock price, volume of 309,000 shares is still well below the daily average volume of 480,000 shares. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI) announced on Wednesday morning that it beat consensus Wall Street estimates. The company announced 2nd quarter earnings per share of 21 cents, on revenue of $185.6 million. According to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters, the average Wall Street estimate called for earnings of 18 cents per share, on revenue of $184.45 million. President and chief executive officer David Smith said, "Broadcast television advertising continues to grow, an indicator that the economy is showing signs of recovery. In the second quarter, we experienced gains in nearly all of our major core advertising categories, with the largest growth coming from the automotive sector, which was up 46% year-over-year. Political for the first six months also paced ahead of the same period in 2006, the last non-presidential election year. The more important data points, however, are that the third quarter's core advertising sales are on pace to not only exceed the same period in 2008 by approximately 9% growth, but also to approximate the current year's second quarter core business, which is typically one of our stronger quarters in any given year." Read more from Benzinga's Company news.