• by Wayne Friedman , March 5, 2019

With the prospect of more TV stations' deal-making -- as well as strong financial results -- TV station groups continue to post rising stock-market prices.

On Tuesday, March 5, there was an added upside.

Tegna was up 2.5% to $14.91,while Sinclair Broadcast Group rose 3.1% to $37.90. E.W. Scripps was up 1.8% to $22.82; Nexstar Media Group saw a 2.1% rise to $102.86; and Gray Television was up 1.6% to $22.51.

Since March 1, Gray Television has been up 20%, while Tegna has added 18%; Scripps is up 13%; Sinclair has gained 9%; and Nexstar Media Group is 7% higher.

Tribune Media, which agreed to be bought by Nexstar in December for $4.1 billion, has been flat for the most recent five-day period at $46.32.

Many stations witnessed strong revenue hikes with recently released financial reports for the fourth-quarter 2018 period, resulting from sharply higher political advertising and continued rising retrans fees from pay TV providers. All this was noted in the face of weak core-advertising revenues.

Year-to-date, many TV station groups have seen even better stock price results, with Gray Television 53% higher; Scripps 45% more; Sincialr up 44%; Tegna rising 37%; and Nexstar adding 30%.

In mid-February, Apollo Global Management struck a $3 billion deal to acquire a majority stake in 13 Cox Media Group television stations. Cox Media Group is owned by Cox Enterprises. 

In January, Gray Television completed its $3.6 billion deal to buy Raycom Media. 

Analysts are expecting more large TV station group deal-making in the future.