The Observer-Dispatch Deathwatch: Climbing Out Of The Pit?

On the Gatehouse Media front, there's good news and there's bad news. The stock is still trading at less than a buck, but it's been slowly climbing up from the disastrous 40 cent level. Google Finance has the details.

On the other hand, the bad news is pretty bad:

GateHouse, based in Fairport, N.Y., posted an operating loss of $429.7 million, or $7.77 a share, during the second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.96 million, or 5 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2007.

But revenues, the company said, grew by 16.5 percent over the prior year to $184.1 million, which it said outperformed other newspaper companies.

GateHouse recorded a second quarter non-cash impairment charge of $443.1 million in the quarter, which decreased the earnings by $7.50 a share. The impairment was largely from the precipitous drop in the company’s stock value; in the second quarter alone it fell from about $6 a share at the start of the period to below 50 cents a share a week ago.

Ironically, I believe this article is the first time a Gatehouse-owned paper has reported on the company's financial misfortunes.