Meredith, TWX, Martha Stewart: Slight Recover in Monthly Magazines, Says JP Morgan

The monthly magazine business is seeing its third month in a row of year-over-year increases in ad pages in July, writes JP Morgan analyst Michael Meltz in a note today, though the business is by no means out of the woods. Ad pages are still down a whopping 26% from July of 2007, he writes.

Looking over ad page data for the industry, Meltz notes that "Shelter, Food, and Fashion/Beauty titles generally outperformed," while lifestyle mags, of both the men's and women's variety, have lagged.

Digging into specific titles, Merdith Corp.'s (MDP) Better Homes and Gardens grew 1.9% in July, Ladies Home Journal inched up 0.2%, and Family Circle fell 0.3%. MORE dropped 16.9%, while a Fitness double-issue increased 19.1%.

Time Warner's (TWX) People mag saw ad pages rise 17%, Time was up 5%, Style is up 34.8%, Essence grew 13.8%, and Golf Magazine gained 20. Southern Living rose 23.1% while Coastal Living fell 27.4%.

And Martha Stewart Living (MSO) monthly magazines rose 12% collectively, writes Meltz, Martha Stewart Living up 5.3%.

Nevertheless, he rates all three stocks "Neutral," with price targets of $39 on Meredith, $32 on Time-Warner, and $5.50 on MSO.

Additional information :

Men s Fitness
Women's Health Women's Health Magazine
Women's Health Magazine Australia Yahoo!7 Lifestyle
Fitness (1-year Amazon.com: Magazines
Men And Womens Magazine Subscriptions At Professional Rates, Up To
Self magazine womens health fitness
Women's Fitness Magazines
Women's Health Weight Loss Magazine Health, Beauty, Fitness
Men's Health Magazine Men's Guide to Fitness Health, Weight
Women's Health Questions
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