Boston Omaha is down about 1.5 percent today, continuing a week of very little movement, and sits just 2.5 percent below its high from early August. We think this is mostly ordinary movement as the stock drifts before the company reports its quarterly earnings later today.
Our view
The business is currently valued at less than the total worth of its assets, which provides a bit of a cushion for patient owners. If you already own it, there is nothing to do today but wait for the next update on its fiber network expansion.
Boston Omaha reports its latest results today. Analysts expect the company to report a loss of about 3 cents per share on revenue of roughly 30 million dollars. This is a business that rarely beats analyst targets, having done so only once in the last two years. The numbers to watch are not just the profit and loss, but how much cash the company is putting into its fiber internet build-out. Because Boston Omaha is a conglomerate that owns everything from billboards to broadband lines, the real story is usually how well management is moving money from its older businesses into these newer, high-growth infrastructure projects.
Analysts have been quiet lately, with no major changes to their outlooks following the company's recent business sales and earnings report. One of the two analysts rates the stock a buy, and the average target price suggests 20% upside.
Average target$17+20%vs $14.22 today
TodayAvg price
Low $17High $17
Buy2 analysts
0Bearish
1Neutral
1Bullish
FirmRatingPrice TargetDate
Wells Fargo
Equal Weight
$17
5/20/2024
Boston Omaha earnings
The company has a history of reporting losses as it spends heavily to build out its infrastructure, and it has missed analyst estimates in seven of the last eight quarters.
Earnings history
EstimateBeatMiss
Boston Omaha past earnings results
Expected
Actual
Surprise
EPS
$-0.03
$-0.07
-133.3%
Revenue
$29M
$28M
-3.3%
Key highlights
Broadband growth slowing: Revenue from broadband services grew 4.2% to $10.75 million, which is a slower pace than the 10% annual growth the company aims to sustain. This segment is now nearly equal in size to the billboard business, which brought in $10.97 million this quarter.
Operating losses widening: The company reported a loss from operations of $2.19 million, more than double the $0.80 million loss from the same period last year. Higher depreciation and amortization expenses, which represent the wearing down of physical assets over time, rose to $6.32 million and contributed to the larger loss.
Book value holding steady: Book value per share, which measures the net value of the company's assets divided by its shares, was $16.61 compared to $16.63 at the end of last year. Management spent $4.8 million to buy back 375,286 shares during the quarter, which helps support the value for remaining owners.
Sky Harbour investment update: The investment in Sky Harbour, a company that builds private airplane hangars, was valued at $77.8 million on the balance sheet. If this stake were valued at its current market price instead of the accounting method used, it would be worth $117.8 million, or $40 million more than what is officially recorded.
Cash flow improving: Cash generated from operations rose to $3.9 million, up from $2.6 million in the prior year. This increase in actual cash coming into the business helps fund the company's diverse investments even while it reports a net loss on paper.
Our take: This was a soft quarter as growth slowed in the key broadband segment and operating losses widened. While the share buybacks and hidden value in the Sky Harbour investment provide some support for the stock, the core businesses are not yet generating the consistent profitability we want to see. It is a neutral result that keeps the long-term case in a holding pattern.
Boston Omaha’s next earnings date
Q2 2026
AUG
13
Expectation
EPS
$-0.03
Revenue
$30M
Metrics we are tracking
Metric
Expectations
Status
Broadband Revenue Growth
Sustaining quarterly growth above 10% YoY through FY2027
4.2% YoY in Q1 2026
Book Value Per Share
Maintaining or growing the current $16.61 per share figure
$16.61 as of Q1 2026
Operating Margin
Reaching positive territory by the end of FY2028
-7.7% TTM as of Q1 2026
Billboard Occupancy Rate
Holding occupancy above 90% in core Link Media markets
