Market Quickie: Sky TV Worth Watching

I have given Sky Network Television [SKT.NZ] a very wide birth over the years, I have never really understood a company that spent more than 10 years losing money and has only been making it for the last 3 or 4.

I guess they were building up a business?

I don't like its business model; a company that relies on continuous large amounts of capital to keep competition at bay doesn't make for a good long term return.

Sky is also at the mercy of Government regulation, currency fluctuation, product quality and large capital depreciation.

What I do like though (I am such a negative bugger) is that it is a virtual monopoly-in Pay TV terms -but even that is under threat by new technology (which SKY is trying to take a punt on) via the Internet and satellite TV and product.

It hasn't done well over the last year, with a more than 16% drop in profit to just over $NZ42 million in the half year to 31 Dec 2008 on higher revenue of nearly $350 million. This is due to higher capital costs, which I outlined above.

Why the hell then do I mention the company today if I see little redeeming about it in its day to day operations?

I kinda like its share price.

The shares are well off their low of $3.15 during the last 52 weeks but the corollary to that is that they are off their 52 week high of $5.10 and well off their all-time high of $6.75 in late 2006 (see 5 year chart above)

I reckon this company is worth a good short-term to medium term punt.



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Market Quickie: Sky TV Worth Watching

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