“I’m very pleased with the way we closed out 2018.  Q4 organic growth was 5.6% – a number we haven’t seen in some time.” was how Sean Reilly summarized Lamar’s 4Q financials.  Here are the results from the fourth quarter 2018 earnings release and conference call.

• Revenues grew 7% to $428 for the fourth quarter of 2018 due to a healthy core market, acquisitions and digital billboard growth.  Revenue grew 6% when adjusted for acquisitions.  Same unit digital billboard revenue lead the improvement with a 10% increase.  Local revenues were up

• Adjusted cashflow (EBIDTA) grew 10% for $195 million for the fourth quarter of 2018 due to growth in revenue.  Lamar does the best job of the big 4 at controlling expenses so increased revenues almost always make their way into cashflow.

• Lamar finished the quarter with $2.8 billion of debt.  Leverage was moderated with Debt/Adjusted EBIDTA of 3.7.

• Capexp totaled $35 million for the fourth quarter and $109 million for the year.

The market was indifferent.  Perhaps people didn’t like Reilly saying that Q1 2019 revenues might be a little lower than expected and Q1 2019 expenses might be a little higher than expected.  Lamar declined 0.70% to $77.67 on a day when the S&P 500 was up 0.18%, Outfront was down 0.14% and Clear Channel Outdoor was up 1.92%.

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