Live Nation Delivers Sour 3Q Numbers, But Investors are Relieved

“Live Nation sure made it hard to find the good news in its 3Q report. The basic data looks terrible: It had net income from continuing operations of $63M, down 3.1% from last year’s 3Q, on revenues of $1.79B, down 2.5%. The revenue figure was far less than the $1.91B that analysts expected. And the continuing operations delivered 27 cents a share while analysts forecast 38 cents. So where’s the good news?

The concert business was more profitable than expected, helping the company to deliver adjusted operating income of $203.6M — up 6.8% from last year and beating the $197M that the Street forecast. “It was a huge relief” says Maxim Group’s John Tinker — especially since lots of investors figured the concert business would be one of the first victims of a weakening economy. . .”

Deadline h as the full story.