Shares in News Corporation (ASX: NWS) rose around 4% on the ASX today (at the time of writing) after the global media giant reported a steady start to the financial year, with first-quarter revenue and earnings both improving on last year.
The media conglomerate is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and is best known for its ownership stakes in media brands such as The Wall Street Journal, Harper Collins Publishers, and REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA).
Revenue rose 2% to US$2.14 billion, and Total Segment EBITDA increased 5% to US$340 million, driven by gains at Dow Jones and Digital Real Estate Services. Adjusted earnings per share climbed to US$0.22, up 10% year on year.
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Ongoing digital shift
While some investors still see News Corp through the lens of newspapers and book publishing, the business mix tells a different story. Digital now dominates the company's core profit engines.
For example, the company's Dow Jones segment, which houses The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, had 84% of its sales coming from digital channels, and EBITDA in the Digital Real Estate Services segment increased by 13%.
News Corp CFO Lavanya Chandrashekar said the company recently raised digital subscription prices for The Wall Street Journal and is reviewing its pricing strategy going forward with the goal of reflecting the value of its premium journalism.
If the company can raise its prices without experiencing a corresponding drop in subscriber numbers, that would be a significant boost to its profitability and would be a powerful demonstration of its pricing power.
Is the stock cheap?
Management clearly believes the stock is cheap. During the quarter, News Corp accelerated its share buyback program, repurchasing stock at more than four times last year's pace.
Chief Executive Robert Thomson said the company's strong balance sheet and cash generation give it room to return capital to shareholders. He said:
We believe our shares are undervalued, given the sum of our valuable parts and our profit trajectory, and we will continue to focus on ways and means to maximize shareholder value.
Could there be an AI opportunity?
Thomson also highlighted how the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) could unlock new opportunities for News Corp's vast portfolio of premium journalism, data, and digital content.
He said AI models rely on trusted information, not scraped or unverified material and that this is a dynamic that strengthens News Corp's position.
"The value of IP in the age of AI is misconceived," Thomson said. "Information and sophisticated data are the essence of AI, and without these essential ingredients, AI is but empty, ignorant infrastructure."
Foolish bottom line
News Corp's first-quarter update shows a business that's quietly transforming from an old-world media empire into a digitally powered content and data company. With buybacks ramping up and management calling the shares undervalued, the company clearly sees hidden value that the market hasn't yet priced in. If its pricing strategy and AI partnerships can translate that digital strength into higher margins, this could be an underappreciated large-cap opportunity on the ASX.
