Mario Likes ‘Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’ Parent, Too…

Fitz: Speaking of Mario Gabelli, this SEC filing from Monday shows that Gamco is also betting heavier on the fortunes of another newspaper publisher and TV broadcaster, Milwaukee-based Journal Communications.

When last Gamco filed a Schedule 13D in early September, its holdings amounted to 4.3 million shares of Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN), 10.78% of outstanding shares.

The latest filing shows Gabelli has increased that to 5.25 million shares -- a 13.01% stake.

Like Media General, the other stock Gabelli has recently been acquiring, Journal Communications has a mix of newspaper, television and digital properties. Unlike that Richmond, Va.-based company,  though, Journal Communications is not as exposed to the worst media markets such as Florida, home to Media General’s Tampa Tribune. Nor does it have the kind of debt that has had its newspaper peers scrambling to renegotiate loan facilities. Journal Communications publishes just one daily, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Also unlike Media General, Gamco’s activity isn’t do much for the stock price, at least in Wednesday’s intraday trading so far. JRN at the end of the lunch hour was trading at $2.64, off 16 cents, or 4.7%. Like virtually every other newspaper sector stock, JRN is trading near historic lows, having lost 64.8% of its value in the past year.