Versant Stock Rises 10% as 2026 Guidance Increases

Earnings Beat, and a Bigger 2026 Target

Versant Media Group (VSNT) told Wall Street on Thursday that it expects a bigger year than it originally planned.

The company, which Comcast spun off in January 2026, reported second-quarter results Thursday, Aug. 6, before markets opened. This was its third earnings report since leaving NBCUniversal.

It earned $1.49 per share, beating the $1.35 analysts expected, while revenue of $1.64 billion edged past the $1.62 billion forecast, according to LSEG data.

Executives pointed to a strong first half and continued momentum as they raised their targets.

Cable Keeps Shrinking, Digital Keeps Growing

The raised outlook comes with a familiar problem attached. Pay TV keeps losing subscribers, and that showed up in the quarter ended June 30.

Total revenue fell 3.8% to $1.64 billion.

Linear TV revenue, which covers channels like USA Network, Syfy, Oxygen and E!, dropped 6.3% to $954 million. The Golf Channel, CNBC and MS NOW are part of that same pay TV lineup.

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Live sports and news still pull the biggest audiences and ad dollars, even as streaming chips away at the bundle.

Platform revenue, which includes Fandango and GolfNow, rose 0.8% to $225 million. Strip out the SportsEngine sale and it grew 9.3%.

The gain came partly from Fandango ticket and video-on-demand sales, plus stronger GolfNow bookings and payments.

Versant is also trying new tricks. It launched a free, ad-supported Fandango streaming option, and USA Sports locked up Bundesliga rights so German soccer will air on USA Network and Fandango starting in August.

CEO Mark Lazarus said the company completed carriage agreements with two major distributors, with one located in the United States and the other in Canada. That stands out because most of Versant's distribution deals were signed while it was still owned by NBCUniversal.

Where the Cash Goes From Here

The quarter carried some heavy costs. Net income fell 30% to $211 million from $302 million a year earlier, when it equaled $2.09 per share.

The drop traces back to lower revenue, public-company costs, interest from the Comcast separation and higher taxes tied to the SportsEngine sale.

Adjusted EBITDA fell 8.9% to $624 million. On a stand-alone basis, which better reflects the business before the spin, it rose 3% as lower programming and other costs offset the revenue decline.

Shareholders are still getting paid.

Versant also finished a $100 million accelerated share repurchase, buying back nearly 2.4 million Class A shares and leaving roughly $800 million in authorization as of June 30. Another $100 million buyback starts Aug. 7.

The company is spending to change what it is. Pay TV still accounts for more than 80% of revenue, but management wants that share to fall to 50% as digital, platform, subscription, ad-supported and transactional businesses grow.

It closed a deal this week for Full Swing, a golf simulator maker, joining GolfPass and GolfNow. Earlier in 2026, it bought StockStory, an AI-powered financial analysis platform that supplies stock picks to CNBC.

For anyone watching from the outside, this is a company in transition. The cable business is still leaking subscribers, but the dividend is real, the buybacks are stacking up, and Versant keeps buying assets that don't depend on the bundle.

The new businesses are still small next to the cable machine that funds them. The next few earnings reports will show whether that balance is shifting fast enough, and for investors, that pace is the whole ballgame.

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