Discovery (DISCA) is a world-class provider of global pay-tv programming including ‘must-carry’ channels (Discovery, TLC and Animal Planet) as well as emerging and niche networks (ID, OWN and Science, among others). Non-fiction content is a wonderful business – it is cheap to produce and portable across geographies, driving excellent margins and cash flows. Discovery is especially well positioned to benefit from the long-tailed wave of increasing pay-tv adoption outside the U.S. The company generally owns the full rights to its content, providing bargaining power as the distribution ecosystem evolves. We project per-share cash flow growth in the high teens over the next several years, fueled by the international business. From today’s price, we think the stock’s return potential is adequate-to-exceptional with solid downside protection.
From Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio)'s Value Fund Q3 2014 Commentary.
