“We delivered our 16th consecutive quarter of acquisition adjusted revenue growth with an increase of 1.1% both local and programmatic revenue were higher while national was slightly down year over year,” was how Lamar Advertising CEO Sean Reilly leadoff the 1Q 2025 earnings call. Here are the results of the Lamar Advertising 1Q 25 earnings release, Lamar Advertising 1Q25 10Q and earnings call, sponsored and analyzed by SignValue.
- Net revenue increased 1.5% to $505 million. Local revenues were up slightly. Airports up 2.8%. Logo revenues up 2.3%. Programmatic up 30%. National declined.
- Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 0.8% to $210 million due to elevated sales commissions and health insurance costs.
- Net income increased 77% to $79 million due to a $68 million gain on the sale of Lamar’s Vistar media equity interest.
- During the first quarter Lamar spent $18 million on the purchase of company stock.
- Capexp was $30 million for the quarter and is projected at $195 million for the year. Lamar wants to add 350 new digital billboards during the year.
- Lamar ended the quarter with $3.2 billion in debt at a weighted average interest rate of 4.6%, a weighted average debt maturity of 3.6 years and a low Debt/Cashflow of 2.85 times. CFO Jay Johnson pointed out that Lamar has the ability to spend $1 billion on acquisitions while remaining below the company’s 4:1 debt to cash flow (EBIDTA) target
CEO Sean Reilly says M&A has resumed
On the M&A front we have been busy. In Q1 we closed 10 deals for about $22 million we have since closed several more including the acquisition of a nice portfolio with a good digital footprint in the northeast last week. Our year to date spend is now north of $70 million and based on our pipeline I’m confident that we will exceed the $150 million.
Reilly sees no sign of a recession
We are not seeing any cancellations or hearing anything from local or national customers that suggest we’re headed for trouble. To the contrary, I just returned from our industry conference in Boston and our larger agency customers are telling us that it is steady as she goes
CFO Jay Johnson says Lamar is buying back stock
We began taking advantage of dislocation in the capital markets during March with repurchases of our Class A common stock and continued into April to date we have repurchased 1.39 million shares at approximately $108.00 per share the repurchases are accretive to AF O with returns well in excess of the company’s cost of capital we have $100 million remaining under the share repurchase program but plan to seek board approval to increase that authorization back to its historical $250 million
SignValue’s Take: A subpar quarter for Lamar with weak revenue growth and a decline in cash flow, but the first quarter of the year is typically slow for OOH companies. The company is taking advantage of equity market uncertainty to buy back at stock. This is one of the benefits of being under-leveraged. With $1 billion in investment capacity, Lamar would be the front runner if Adams chooses to sell. Remember, Adams is owned by an equity fund and equity funds have a limited timeline on their investments. The market was disappointed. Lamar stock fell 2.65% on a day when Clear Channel declined 1.82% Outfront decreased 1.47% and the S&P grew .6%.
If you have questions, contact one of SignValue’s experienced analysts for a free and confidential consultation at info@signvalue.com or call 480-657-8400.
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