Outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 8.2% year on year to $461.5 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.02 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $461.5 million vs analyst estimates of $448.9 million (8.2% year-on-year growth, 2.8% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.02 vs analyst estimates of $0.01 (in line)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $164.5 million vs analyst estimates of $156.2 million (35.6% margin, 5.3% beat)
- Operating Margin: 23.3%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $1.2 billion
Company Overview
With thousands of digital and traditional displays lighting up America's highways, city streets, and airports, Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) operates billboards, street furniture, and airport displays, connecting advertisers with millions of consumers across the US.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years.
With $1.6 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Clear Channel Outdoor is a mid-sized business services company, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better economies of scale.
As you can see below, Clear Channel Outdoor’s demand was weak over the last five years. Its sales fell by 2.9% annually, a rough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Clear Channel Outdoor’s annualized revenue growth of 5.8% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting some bright spots. 
This quarter, Clear Channel Outdoor reported year-on-year revenue growth of 8.2%, and its $461.5 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 2.8%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 3.6% over the next 12 months, a slight deceleration versus the last two years. This projection is underwhelming and suggests its products and services will see some demand headwinds.
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Operating Margin
Operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income - the bottom line - excluding the impact of taxes and interest on debt, which are less connected to business fundamentals.
Clear Channel Outdoor has done a decent job managing its cost base over the last five years. The company has produced an average operating margin of 11.7%, higher than the broader business services sector.
Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Clear Channel Outdoor’s operating margin rose by 20.1 percentage points over the last five years, showing its efficiency has meaningfully improved.
This quarter, Clear Channel Outdoor generated an operating margin profit margin of 23.3%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Clear Channel Outdoor’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is encouraging and shows it’s at a critical moment in its life.
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.
For Clear Channel Outdoor, its two-year annual EPS growth of 43.9% was higher than its five-year trend. We love it when earnings growth accelerates, especially when it accelerates off an already high base.
In Q4, Clear Channel Outdoor reported EPS of $0.02, up from negative $0.04 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Clear Channel Outdoor to perform poorly. Analysts forecast its full-year EPS of $0.05 will invert to negative negative $0.11.
Key Takeaways from Clear Channel Outdoor’s Q4 Results
It was encouraging to see Clear Channel Outdoor meet analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also glad its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this quarter featured some important positives. The stock remained flat at $2.39 immediately after reporting.
Is Clear Channel Outdoor an attractive investment opportunity right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
