Earnings Preview for Washington Post (WPO, BRK-A, NYT)

Washington Post WPO will be reporting first-quarter 2011 results Friday before the market opens. Analysts are looking for the company to post earnings of $4.35 per share on revenue of $1.1 billion. That's down from $4.91 per share on $1.2 billion in the same period of last year. The consensus earnings estimate is unchanged from 60 days ago. Washington Post is a diversified education and media company. Its educational services include post-secondary education, professional training and test preparation. It also provides cable television services to subscribers in the midwestern, western, and southern states, as well as conducts television broadcasting operations through VHF television stations serving the Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and San Antonio markets. And, of course, it publishes and distributes The Washington Post newspaper. So far, analysts anticipate sequential growth of both per-share earnings and revenue in the second quarter. Note that analysts have underestimated Washington Post's earnings in recent quarters; earnings beat the consensus estimate by 56 cents per share in the fourth quarter. Washington Post has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Berkshire Hathaway BRK maintained its stake in Washington Post in its year-end report. However, the share price is in the same ballpark in which it began the year, as shares have been trading between $410 and $450 since December. In the past three months, the stock has managed to outperform competitors New York Times NYT and Princeton Review REVU, though.