Explore iHeartMedia's Fair Values from the Community and select yours

With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at iHeartMedia, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:IHRT) future prospects. iHeartMedia, Inc. operates as an audio media company in the United States. The company’s loss has recently broadened since it announced a US$1.0b loss in the full financial year, compared to the latest trailing-twelve-month loss of US$1.3b, moving it further away from breakeven. Many investors are wondering about the rate at which iHeartMedia will turn a profit, with the big question being “when will the company breakeven?” In this article, we will touch on the expectations for the company's growth and when analysts expect it to become profitable.

According to the 4 industry analysts covering iHeartMedia, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2025, before turning a profit of US$67m in 2026. The company is therefore projected to breakeven just over a year from today. What rate will the company have to grow year-on-year in order to breakeven on this date? Using a line of best fit, we calculated an average annual growth rate of 123%, which is extremely buoyant. If this rate turns out to be too aggressive, the company may become profitable much later than analysts predict.

Given this is a high-level overview, we won’t go into details of iHeartMedia's upcoming projects, but, keep in mind that by and large a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.

Before we wrap up, there’s one issue worth mentioning. iHeartMedia currently has negative equity on its balance sheet. Accounting methods used to deal with losses accumulated over time can cause this to occur. This is because liabilities are carried forward into the future until it cancels. Oftentimes, losses exist only on paper but other times, it can be a red flag.

Next Steps:

There are too many aspects of iHeartMedia to cover in one brief article, but the key fundamentals for the company can all be found in one place – iHeartMedia's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of relevant aspects you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is iHeartMedia worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether iHeartMedia is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on iHeartMedia’s board and the CEO’s background.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.