Versant Keeping Up with the Cord-Cutters; Initiating at Neutral with a $43 Price Target

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Versant Keeping Up with the Cord-Cutters; Initiating at Neutral with a $43 Price Target

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

12 May 2026

Initiation

Versant Neutral

VSNT, VSNT US

Keeping Up with the Cord-Cutters; Initiating at Neutral Price (11 May 26):$41.31

with a $43 Price Target Price Target (Dec-26):$43.00

We are initiating coverage of Versant Media Group (VSNT) with a Neutral rating and Media, Entertainment and

Dec 2026 price target of $43. Versant emerges out of the Comcast spinoff primarily Advertising

as a collection of cable networks covering sports, financial news, politics, and general David Karnovsky, CFA AC

entertainment. The headwinds to distribution and advertising in the Pay-Television (1-212) 622-1206

ecosystem are well known, and the company will have to navigate declining top-line david.karnovsky@jpmorgan.com

trends in the near term while maintaining programming quality to remain attractive Alexey Philippov, CFA

to audiences. Independence from NBCUniversal also creates risks in upcoming (1-212) 622-0810

renewals with MVPDs for carriage rates and league partners for sports rights. On the alexey.philippov@jpmorgan.com

positive side, management is now free to use its cash flow to reinvest into its Douglas Wardlaw

(1-212) 622 4885

businesses, and has made clear an intention to expand the reach of its brands into new douglas.wardlaw@jpmchase.com

channels and vertically integrate across categories, with the overarching goal to

Kiscada A Hastings

reduce reliance on PayTV. Our Neutral rating balances declining revenue trends (1-212) 622-0226

against a valuation that largely captures these pressures, while we think investors will kiscada.hastings@jpmchase.com

be hesitant to award the company for its growth initiatives until EBITDA stabilizes or J.P.