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STRZ · Starz Entertainment Corp /Cn/

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$26.00 -2.00 (-7.14%) At close · Aug 14
Market Cap
$428.28M
Shares
17.12M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2025 Q4

Starz Entertainment Corp /Cn/ Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Starz Entertainment Corp /Cn/ Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Concluded Feb 26, 2026
Feb 26, 2026 39 turns
Period
FY2025 Q4
Runtime
Sources
2 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

Starz reported Q4 2025 revenue of $322.8 million and adjusted OIBDA of $55.5 million, ended the year with a record 12.7 million domestic OTT subscribers (+7.6% YoY), achieved full-year adjusted OIBDA of $204 million exceeding its $200 million outlook, and finished at 2.9x leverage versus a 3.1x guide.

Franchise Strategy 27 Original Programming & Bedrock Strategy 25 Content Ownership & Library 14 International Expansion 13 OTT Subscriber Growth 11 2026 Financial Outlook 10

Management tone

Confident

Net tone +75 · low hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “2025 was a very successful year, one in which we exceeded all of our financial guidance”
  • “We ended the year at an all-time high of 12.7 million OTT subscribers, growing year-over-year by 7.6%”
  • “Our outlook for 2026 is strong. We expect OTT revenue to grow. We expect to deliver low single-digit percentage adjusted OIBDA growth versus 2025”
  • “These shifts are critical in achieving our long-term targets of increasing margins to 20%, converting 70% of adjusted OIBDA to unlevered free cash flow, and delevering to 2.5x as quickly as possible”

Forward guidance

1 guided metrics

Management's latest ranges and targets are included below.

Research coverage

2 live sources

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Revenue · derived Q4 $398.40M -58.9% YoY
Net income · derived Q4 $36.90M

Research materials

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8-K earnings release Filed Feb 26, 2026

Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Full-year adjusted OIBDA of $204 million exceeded the $200 million outlook; Q4 adjusted OIBDA of $55.5 million was up over 100% sequentially
  • Domestic OTT subscribers reached an all-time high of 12.7 million, up 7.6% YoY, with Q4 adds of 370,000 OTT and 170,000 total U.S. subscribers
  • Leverage ended the year at 2.9x, better than the 3.1x target, with $150 million revolving credit facility undrawn
  • Strong 2026 outlook: expects OTT revenue growth, low single-digit percentage adjusted OIBDA growth, $80–$120 million of positive unlevered free cash flow, and leverage improvement to ~2.7x
  • Sky onboarded as co-commission partner for first wholly-owned series 'Fightland', improving unit economics; restructured Canadian business into a licensing stream and greenlit 'Power Origins' (18-episode order)
  • Recent originals performed strongly: 'Power Book IV: Force' Season 3 delivered 57% in-season viewership growth; 'Spartacus' revival received critical acclaim

Risks & pressure points

  • Q4 revenue grew only ~60 bps sequentially and included a decline in linear and OTT revenue due to ongoing linear declines and heavy holiday seasonal promotions
  • Total U.S. subscribers reflect ongoing linear declines that partially offset OTT growth (linear customers declined in Q4)
  • Net loss of $(20.7) million ($(1.24) per share) and operating loss of $(4.7) million in Q4; trailing-twelve-month operating loss of $(208.7) million
  • Net debt of $589.4 million remains elevated; 2026 free cash flow guidance of $80–$120 million is contingent on the company converting to positive equity free cash flow
  • Starting with the March 2026 quarter, Starz will no longer disclose subscriber metrics, reducing visibility for investors
  • Reliance on key franchises ('Power Universe', 'Outlander', 'P-Valley') and final seasons introduces concentration risk for subscriber engagement

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

“This represents approximately an $80 million to $120 million improvement year-over-year in both measures. The improvement in cash flow stems from lower cash content spend in 2026 versus 2025, which drives a closer alignment of cash content spend with the programming amortization expense reflected on our income statement.” Scott MacDonald, CFO

Guidance from the call

Stated verbally and extracted from the transcript.

Metric Guided
Positive unlevered free cash flow
2026
$80M – $120M

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Revenue · products & services

Over-the-Top Subscription Service (OTT)$225.50M
Linear Subscription Service$105.10M
Full-screen source Call document