Shares of growth dynamo oOh!Media Ltd (ASX: OML) have been on a tear lately and even hit a new record high on Friday last week.
The shares hit a high of $5.35 before ending the session at $5.20. Despite that minor dip, investors still have plenty of reasons to be happy with how their investment is performing, with the shares up a remarkable 106% in the last 12 months, compared to a decline of nearly 5% for the ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) benchmark.
oOh!Media is a leader in Australia's out-of-home media market. It owns and manages a portfolio of display advertising panels and billboards around the country (as well as in New Zealand), which provide advertisers with the ability to reach a wide audience in unmissable locations.
For instance, many of its billboards are located above or next to major roads, while many of its panels are located in shopping centres as well as cafes and airports, which typically have high dwelling times.
Meanwhile, the company is converting many of its advertising panels and billboards from static to digital. This should enable higher margins for the business, over time, and allow for time-of-day advertising. It will also open up the advertising spaces to new customers which need a quick turnaround.
An example of this is a car dealer or a supermarket which are advertising a two or three-day sale. Digital panels will allow for these advertisements to be rolled out much sooner than would be possible with a static panel.
Unlike other corners of the media and advertising market, including TV and newspapers, this segment has demonstrated very strong growth in recent years, and oOh!Media has certainly benefited. The company smashed its own prospectus forecasts in financial year 2015 (FY15) and has predicted strong growth to occur again in FY16.
Of course, this does introduce competition risk with other businesses such as APN Outdoor Group Ltd (ASX: APO) and QMS Media Ltd (ASX: QMS) also pushing to increase their own market share. As such, there is the risk that demand between these businesses could increase market rents of various sites and thus, impact their margins over time.
There is also a risk that, in the event of an economic downturn, the advertising market could also suffer. Given much of oOh!Media's operating costs are fixed in nature, a downturn could certainly impact profitability in the short-to-medium terms.
These are certainly factors that investors should bear in mind before committing to an investment in oOh!Media (or APN Outdoor Group or QMS Media, for that matter). For now, however, it could be well worth adding all three to your long-term watchlist.
