PHILADELPHIA - Advertising stocks largely fell on Friday after an analyst downgraded two of its biggest players and reduced ad spending forecasts amid a plunging market. Citi analyst Catriona Fallon cut her revenue and earnings estimates for Omnicom Group Inc., the world's largest diversified advertising and marketing company, and Interpublic Group of Cos., which is third globally. The analyst cited macroeconomic forces, as a severe downturn appears to be shaping up in the global economy. Citi expects ad spending growth of only 0.3 percent from the top 10 advertisers in 2009. Furthermore, since both New York-based conglomerates have nearly half of revenues coming from abroad, they also face foreign currency exchange risk as the dollar strengthens. Foreign exchange should hurt revenue by 12.1 percent in 2009 to 2010. In a...
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