Fox Corp (FOX) (FOXA) shares climbed Wednesday after the media giant delivered fiscal second-quarter 2026 results that showed it can keep the advertising momentum going even without election-year political spending to juice the numbers.
Revenue rose 2% year-over-year to $5.18 billion, up from $5.08 billion in the same period last year and topping Wall Street's consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. That's a pretty solid beat when you consider the company faced tough comparisons against last year's political advertising bonanza.
Adjusted net income came in at $360 million, or 82 cents per share, crushing analysts' expectations of 50 cents per share. That's down from $442 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier, but the earnings beat suggests the business is performing better than investors anticipated.
Where the Money Came From
Distribution revenue climbed 3.6% to $2.00 billion, powered primarily by 5% growth in the Cable Network Programming segment. That's the steady, predictable cash flow that media companies love.
More interesting is the advertising side. Ad revenue advanced 1.4% to $2.46 billion, driven by higher sports and news pricing, digital growth led by the Tubi streaming service, and additional MLB postseason games. The fact that advertising revenue grew at all is notable, considering the company absorbed lower political advertising revenues compared to last year's elevated levels. Lower ratings also created headwinds.
Content and other revenue edged up 0.3% to $725 million, rounding out the revenue picture.
Cash Flow and Shareholder Returns
Fox reported an operating cash outflow of $669 million for the quarter and ended the period with $2.02 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31.
The company declared a dividend of 28 cents per share payable on March 25, 2026, with a record date of March 4, 2026. But the real shareholder return story is the buyback program: Fox repurchased approximately $750 million of its Class A common stock and $800 million of its Class B common stock during the quarter. That's $1.55 billion in total stock buybacks in just three months.
Looking Forward
Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair and CEO, highlighted the company's strong performance across various sectors of its portfolio. The key takeaway from his remarks: despite facing tough comparisons against last year's strong political advertising revenue, Fox still managed to grow total company advertising revenue.
During the earnings call, Murdoch said the advertising market stayed strong through the second quarter and remains healthy, with positive trends across the company's media portfolio. He pointed to several growth drivers ahead, including an expected boost from political advertising in the next election cycle, continued expansion in streaming and digital businesses, and major upcoming events like the FIFA World Cup and motorsports programming.
Fox shares were up 0.87% at $63.73 at the time of publication on Wednesday.
