It is approximately a year since Discovery stakeholders approved a $43 billion deal to acquire WarnerMedia from AT&T, leading to the formation of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) in April 2022. In the lead up to the merger, many analysts were bullish on the arrangement, with some projecting a target price of $45 a share.

But since then, Warner Bros. Discovery's stock price has never come close to that figure, and instead is down roughly 43% from where it was a year ago.

The reasons for the stock's struggles are varied, but some of its strongest headwinds have come from declining ad revenue for its linear TV business and strong competition from its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) rivals. Nonetheless, CEO David Zaslav expressed confidence during the company's fiscal 2022 fourth-quarter earnings call, saying things should improve this year. Is he right? 

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Source Fool.com