Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine surveys the April media stock landscape and finds the internet group leading the pack. Newspapers were down 4.1 percent for the month and 9.2 percent year to date; only Scripps saw a gain, up 4.5 percent, with Dow Jones down 10.5 percent (maybe our next poll should be how long Peter Kann can remain chairman and CEO) and NYTCO down 8.8 percent. The same holds true for year to date—Scripps up 5.5 percent, while Dow Jones, down 22.3 percent, leads the losers, followed by Journal Register and NYTCO, each down 18.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the Internet Media Group was up 11.8 percent in April, the best performer for the month and YTD. Google’s 21.9 percent increase far outstripped Yahoo’s 1.8 percent. Year to date, Google is up 14.1 percent while Yahoo is down 8.4 percent.

Other tidbits:
-- “As online and new products are likely constituting the majority of newspaper ad revenue growth, we have concern that returns on those products are lower, which could portend declining margins over time.”
-- Fine still likes ad agency stocks. “As we continue to hear anecdotes regarding the shift from traditional media to new media (internet, marketing, cable), we believe the agencies will benefit as they are media agnostic.”
-- Fine also likes Yahoo’s momentum. “We are big believers that the secular pick up in online spending, branded and search, is still in early innings.”