Fox Corporation (FOXA) Earnings & Analysis

Latest quarter

Fox reported Q1 FY2027 revenue of $4.6 billion, up from $3.7 billion a year earlier. For the preceding quarter ended June 30, 2026, the company’s $4.2 billion in revenue exceeded the $3.6 billion consensus, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.79 exceeded the $1.34 consensus.

Fox’s filing attributed the latest quarter’s revenue growth to distribution and advertising, partly offset by lower content and other revenue. Advertising revenue rose 47%, led by the FIFA Men’s World Cup, political advertising and Tubi’s digital growth. Distribution revenue rose 9%, helped by higher rates and subscriber numbers.

The filing shows Television revenue increased 32%, while Cable Network Programming revenue rose 8%. Company-wide operating expenses increased 11%, primarily because of sports programming and production costs and higher digital content costs.

Fox reported a gross margin of 48.3%, compared with 44.2% a year earlier, and an operating margin of 33.3%, compared with 25.9%. Free cash flow was $503.0 million, compared with −$234.0 million a year earlier; CFO Steve Tomsic attributed much of the improvement to the timing of World Cup payments and advertising collections.

Adjusted EPS is the figure the consensus estimates, not the GAAP EPS above.

What management said on the call

CEO Lachlan Murdoch said advertising growth continued into the current quarter, with the World Cup, political spending and Tubi contributing to the first quarter. He said Tubi revenue grew 35% year over year, supported by a 23% increase in viewing time. CFO Steve Tomsic said Tubi also increased its year-over-year EBITDA contribution.

Discussing political advertising in the Q&A, Murdoch said revenue across Fox had exceeded $350 million for the midterm cycle. He said local stations accounted for more than $250 million, Tubi for about $50 million and national advertising across sports, news and entertainment for another $50 million plus. Local stations can exhaust available advertising slots during a political cycle, he said, displacing some other advertisers.

Tomsic said cable distribution revenue rose 10%, helped by pricing from affiliate renewals and a net subscriber increase. Declines at third-party distributors were running below 6%, he said, while Fox One contributed subscribers. Murdoch said Fox One acquisitions in September increased over 30% compared with the start of the prior football season and that subscribers used the service for both news and sports.

Asked about Fox News ratings, Murdoch said the channel faced difficult comparisons with the prior-year news cycle and was seeing some viewer fatigue. He said those viewers were watching less television overall rather than switching to other news channels. On pricing, he said Fox News had room to move its advertising rates toward broadcast levels.

On investment and capital allocation, Tomsic said World Cup and digital content costs contributed to higher quarterly expenses. He also said Fox had paused share repurchases during the quarter but anticipated returning to them in the current quarter. Murdoch said Fox had received required shareholder and foreign regulatory approvals for its proposed Roku acquisition and was working with the Department of Justice to obtain antitrust clearance.

Guidance

On the previous earnings call, CFO Steve Tomsic said he expected the buyback program to continue through the pending Roku transaction and beyond it. On the latest call, he said Fox had temporarily paused repurchases during the quarter and anticipated returning to them in the current quarter. He expects full-year repurchases to be in line with Fox’s historical range.