Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) missed fourth-quarter estimates on both the top and bottom line, the stock dropping Friday morning after posting this wider-than-expected loss. LightShed Partners Partner and Media and Technology Analyst Rich Greenfield joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the media studio's strategy around cost-cutting and streaming content.

"There's no doubt that [CEO] David Zaslav and Gunnar Wiedenfels, their CFO... they've done a great job of living up to the free-cash flow numbers that they promised Wall Street," Greenfield explains. "The challenge is they haven't been able to grow the business... What you're seeing from investors is that It's hard to pay meaningfully for a company if they do not believe that there is future revenue and earnings growth. So, you can cut and certainly generate cash on the short-term, but cust-cutting is not a long-term strategy..."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: All right. Well, Warner Brothers Discovery shares are falling after missing expectations on both the top and bottom line in the fourth quarter. Now the media company seeing its studios network and advertising revenue fall as the effects of the Hollywood strikes lingered into the end of the year. Let's talk about it with Rich Greenfield, he's lightshed partners media and technology analyst.

Rich, it's great to see you here. So let's talk about these results and what it means for the broader streaming landscape. The thing that stuck out to me was the fact that they are making some progress when it comes to the streaming business and what they are seeing there, specifically what they're seeing from Max. I guess, put that in perspective for us just in terms of how much more optimistic.

Are you more optimistic about what the rest of the year will potentially look like as a result of that?

RICH GREENFIELD: Look, I think investors are panicking right now. It's when you see the stock down 10% or so premarket. I think the fear is that the company was unwilling to give any form of guidance. They've been pretty vocal in the past talking about 2024 even going back to when they closed this transaction.

And while numbers have certainly stepped down over the course of the last several years numerous times, they've always been pretty forthcoming with what the year ahead looks like. And this was the first time that they basically said that they just can't do that. And I think the fear that is sitting with investors right now is the concern that numbers are coming down.