Lamar Suffering Less Than CBS, Clear Channel in Billboard Storm

BNET bashed Lamar Advertising recently for turning away clients whose opinions it doesn't like even while its revenues fall. But a comparison of Lamar and its competitors, CBS Outdoor* and Clear Channel Outdoor, shows that Lamar may be weathering the recessionary storm better than its larger foes. Check the numbers:

Name, Q2 2009 Revenues, % Change

Clear Channel, $692 million, -24 percent
CBS Outdoor, $434 million, -27 percent
Lamar Advertising, $275 million, -15 percent

Lamar is also less troubled, management-wise, than the other two companies. CBS just replaced their outdoor boss, per Dow Jones, and both CBS and CCO's assets may be an acquisition target:

Antonio Alonso, chief development officer for CBS Outdoor International, replaced Clive Punter as chief executive of the division, reporting directly to CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves.

... Jean-Francois Decaux, co-chief executive of the world's largest outdoor advertising company, JCDecaux SA (DEC.FR), recently told Dow Jones Newswires that he would be interested in assets in the U.S., particularly Clear Channel Outdoor or CBS Outdoor, if they were for sale.

CCO also suffered a big writedown of various assets (something Lamar warned about but has yet to do):

The latest results included a $419.5 million write-down of goodwill, a $345.4 million write-down of its permits and a $38.8 million write-down of contracts in its Americas and international outdoor segements.

The biggest recent negative for Lamar was a Goldman Sachs downgrade:

"Owing to the longer average duration of business contracts, outdoor advertising has a much longer cycle time than other media," [Analyst Mark Wienkes] said in a note to investors. "As a result, the industry is typically late in entering and exiting cycles, both on the upside and the downside."

* CBS Outdoor is owned by the same parent company of BNET.com.

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