Media Stock Rally Is Headline News Under Trump

(Bloomberg) -- The media under Donald Trump: fake, dishonest — and on fire.

At least in the stock market, where purveyors of newspapers, cable television and websites are some of the best performers in a broad market rally that itself is already front-page news. Deal making and speculation that the new president will dismantle regulation is blotting out the group's bad press — among investors, anyway. Even short sellers are evacuating.

The S&P 500 Media Index has surged 17% since Nov. 8, the fourth-best return out of 24 industries, while short interest on an ETF tracking the stocks sits at the lowest since September 2015, IHS Markit data show. Many of the best-performing individual stocks, such as Tegna and Scripps Networks Interactive — both up more than 20% — have seen bears retreat.

Media bulls got good news Wednesday when newly designated FCC Chairman and net neutrality opponent Ajit Pai said in Senate testimony that approval of the pending merger between Time Warner and AT&T probably falls outside his jurisdiction. This lines up with Pai's previous call for "light-touch regulation," just one part of a rollback investors see spurring further industry consolidation.

"The biggest driver in the media rally since the election has been greater regulatory openness to value creation though potential M&A," Paul Gallant, a Washington-based analyst at Cowen & Co., said in a phone interview.

The S&P 500 Media Index rose 0.2% at 9:38 a.m. in New York.

Companies regulated by the FCC share investor enthusiasm for Pai's nomination. AT&T said Pai already has worked to remove "outdated and unnecessary regulations," while Charter Communications said he "understands that regulatory stability allows businesses to grow and create jobs."

Pai, who has been on the commission since 2012 and the agency's chairman since being designated by Trump in January, has also spoken out against TV station ownership restrictions and privacy requirements for broadband providers. He's criticized the net-neutrality rules adopted by Democrats in 2015, already suspending a requirement that internet service providers safeguard customers' data.

While a primary driver of the post-election rally has been optimism that the FCC may ease rules, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker has also previously cited the potential for higher advertising spending amid expectations of lower taxes and health-care costs under Trump.

Further, some stocks in the media index are rallying off recent weakness. Walt Disney was at an eight-month low in the weeks before the election, while 21st Century Fox sat at a more than 3 1/2-year low two months ahead of Nov. 8. Both companies have rebounded at least 10% since the vote.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Fund performance M&A Money Management Executive
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING