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Investing.com - Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) received a reaffirmed Outperform rating and $32.00 price target from Bernstein SocGen Group on Wednesday. The stock, currently trading at $28.31, shows potential upside according to InvestingPro data, with analyst targets ranging from $28 to $38.
The music entertainment company announced a $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital that will provide additional catalog purchasing power, strengthening its position in both recording and publishing segments.
Warner Music Group also revealed plans for approximately $300 million in incremental annual cost savings, which Bernstein views as significantly enhancing the company’s financial outlook.
Bernstein noted that following the recent Tempo acquisition, the joint venture demonstrates Warner Music Group’s commitment to maintaining a disciplined merger and acquisition strategy while increasing market share both organically and through acquisitions.
The research firm expressed confidence in Warner Music Group’s approach to optimizing its portfolio around high-quality intellectual property, reinforcing what Bernstein already considered an attractive earnings growth trajectory for fiscal year 2026.
In other recent news, Warner Music Group has announced its second-quarter earnings for 2025, revealing a notable miss on both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue expectations. The company reported an EPS of $0.07, significantly below the forecast of $0.29, with revenue reaching $1.48 billion compared to the anticipated $1.52 billion. In a strategic move, Warner Music Group and Bain Capital have formed a joint venture to invest up to $1.2 billion in music catalogs, combining Warner’s global music infrastructure with Bain Capital’s financial resources. Analyst firms have adjusted their outlooks accordingly: JPMorgan has lowered its price target for Warner Music Group to $32, maintaining an Overweight rating, while Bernstein SocGen Group initiated an Outperform rating with a price target of $32, citing the company’s strong new management team. Conversely, Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from "Buy" to "Neutral," reducing the price target to $28, following weaker-than-anticipated growth in subscription and ad-supported streaming revenues. Challenges for Warner Music Group include a loss of market share in China and a lighter release slate, impacting their subscription streaming guidance. Despite these hurdles, analysts from Bernstein SocGen Group see potential growth driven by digital revenue and systematic margin expansion, particularly with the upcoming launch of Spotify (NYSE:SPOT)’s superfan subscription tier.
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