Fox News 'Genius' Ailes Leaves Behind Trail of Hurdles, Analyst Tells CNBC
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On the announcement that Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigned Thursday night amid sexual harassment allegations, FBR Capital Markets' Barton Crockett predicted on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday that there may not be short-term challenges at the station, but there could be long-term issues.
"Well we're happy that they're ripping off the Bandaid [and] that this isn't something that's stretching on for a long time," Crockett noted.
However, the issue is that "Roger Ailes has been exceptionally talented at what he does, which is getting an audience for this three-ring circus that is 24-hour news" and no one has "done it better" than him, he stated.
Therefore, while the employees at Fox News will continue to run the day-by-day shows well, as they have been, when it comes to issues like hiring, the station may suffer without Ailes, Crockett explained.
"When you have to make decisions about talent, you've got to make decisions about coverage. Is there going to be some type of slow change in the performance of this network?" he questioned.
Crockett "fully expects the ratings at Fox News to continue to be strong in the near term," but his concern is on the long-term.
"They've got to continue what they've been doing well without the genius there," Crockett commented.
Fox News parent company Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA) - Get Report leader Rupert Murdoch has become the chairman and CEO of the station on Ailes' departure.
Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox are up by 0.11% to $27.21 early this morning.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Fox as a "hold" with a score of C+.
The primary factors that have impacted this rating are mixed. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, expanding profit margins and good cash flow from operations.
However, as a counter to these strengths, TheStreet Ratings also finds weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income and generally higher debt management risk.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: FOXA
TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.