LIN Media LLC (LIN): The Next Small Cap Media or Social Media Giant? SBGI, NXST & PBS

Small cap media stock LIN Media LLC (NYSE: LIN) might not be a household name, but there is a good chance you might be watching the company's programs because like the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc (NASDAQ: SBGI) and Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc (NASDAQ: NXST), its helping to consolidate the media industry plus its making investment in other forms of media like social media. The stock has also outperformed those two peers along with the PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio ETF (NYSEARCA: PBS).

What is LIN Media LLC?

Small cap LIN Media LLC is a local multimedia company that operates or services 43 television stations and seven digital channels in 23 US markets plus the company has a diverse portfolio of web sites, apps and mobile products. More specifically, LIN Media delivers local news and community stories, sports and entertainment programming to 10.5% of U.S. television homes while digital media operations focus on emerging media and interactive technologies for the delivery of performance-driven digital marketing solutions to agencies and brands. The company also has strategic investments in Nami Media (an online marketing and technology company that specializes in performance marketing), HYFN (a full service digital agency that develops and implements award-winning mobile, social and web experiences for some of the world's largest brands), Dedicated Media (direct response marketing), EndPlay (a Software as a Service or SaaS provider of Web Content Management solutions to enterprise clients in the media, entertainment and education industries) and VoxFrontera (a leader in providing automated, real-time Spanish captioning to the TV industry).

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For reference, the Sinclair Broadcast Group is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country as it owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 149 television stations in 76 markets, reaching approximately 38% of US television households while Nexstar Broadcasting Group owns or provide services to 72 broadcast television stations and 43 community portal websites located in 41 markets in 18 states, reaching approximately 13.8 million television households, or approximately 12.1% of all USTVHH.

Finally, the PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio ETF tracks the Dynamic Media IntellidexSM Index (Intellidex Index) which is comprised of common stocks of 30 US media companies.

What You Need to Know About Small Cap LIN Media LLC

LIN Media LLC's recent history is somewhat convoluted as in February, it was reported that LIN Television Corp. has paid $100 million to withdraw from a joint venture involving stations in San Diego and Dallas that had the company on the hook for an $815.5 million note. The transaction resulted in a material gain of $715.5 million in taxable income. The company's CEO was quoted as saying:

"We are very excited about this transaction because it is the first step in resolving once and for all the NBC JV guarantee and tax overhangs that have in recent years limited our strategic options and have kept some investors on the sidelines. We plan to move as rapidly as practical to execute the merger that will cause the LLC Conversion and expect to close this transaction within the next four to six months."

It was noted at the end of July that LIN Media, as the surviving company in the merger, would begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 31 with shares of LIN TV common stock converted into common shares of LIN Media on a one-for-one basis.

In early August, LIN Media LLC filed its financials and it was noted in the filing that had it not been for acquisitions, revenue would have been flat, but interactive revenues did increase from $10.520 million to $20,837 million year-over-year.

Finally, it should be mentioned that in late August, LIN Media LLC filed a registration to sell, from time to time, up to $250 million of Common Shares, Preferred Shares, Warrants, Debt Securities, Guarantees, Units, or any combination thereof. The company also filed to sell up to 9,855,000 shares on behalf of selling shareholders and won't receive proceeds from those secondary sales.

Share Performance: LIN Media LLC and SBGI, NXST & PBS

On Wednesday, small cap LIN Media LLC rose 0.30% to $16.93 (LIN has a 52 week trading range of $4.05 to $18.66 a share) for a market cap of $885.05 million plus the stock is up 106.46% since the start of the year, up 316% over the past year and up 198.6% over the past five years. A quick look at a chart comparison of LIN Media LLC verses Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Broadcasting Group and PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio ETF, reveals its been a top performing media stock:

Finally, here is a look at the most recent technical charts for Media LLC along with SBGI, NXST and PBS:

The Bottom Line. The registration to file additional shares will probably impact current shareholders. However, investors should still keep an eye on LIN Media LLC as consolidation in the media industry is a trend that's expected to continue plus it has good exposure to new media businesses.