Nomura analyst Michael Nathanson published his thoughts this week on what 2013 has in store for U.S. Media companies. Entitled "Will 2013 Be a Replay of 2012", the analyst's report begins with a quick summary of last year's media industry highlights, replete with high single-digit affiliate fees and massive capital returns combined with low valuations. Indeed, many media stocks enjoyed a great year.

A couple of tech giants reported this week and Wall Street -- along with the market -- responded to news of their earnings in drastically different ways.

Attendees at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas who expected to see revolutionary gadgets were largely disappointed. As most Wall Street analysts would admit, CES 2013 and the products on display there were mostly evolutionary tweaks in both form factors and computing power. While new TV formats wowed the audience, the march towards mobility was the overarching takeaway from the show.

In a week where the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) dominated the headlines of many media outlets and analysts' attention, there was some other news that provided at least a sideshow to the main event.

Nielsen released cable ratings for December and Viacom (VIAB) ratings were down −3% Y/Y in December and −5.5% for Q4, something Credit Suisse analyst Michael Senno called "a marked deceleration from the declines seen throughout 2012".

Disney was all over the news this week. Michael Nathanson dissected Disney's (DIS) newly-released 10-K and by all accounts, found FY2012 to be a good year for the firm. DIS grew segment operating profit an impressive 13% and adjusted EPS by 21% and DIS shares were up 36% this year. While investors focus their concern on margins at US Parks and profits in Cable Networks, Nathanson believes the company deserves a higher multiple.

Needham produced a very impressive report on the Cloud this week. The 60-page Needham Cloud Manifesto: Defining the Broader Cloud Opportunity was compiled by various Needham analysts' vertical industry perspectives. Laura Martin, the firm's Entertainment and Internet analyst, wrote, "We believe that consumer demand for content will be a key driver of cloud services. Since consumer spending represents about two-thirds of total economic activity in the U.S., cloud monetization should improve as consumer demand for cloud services grows."

Interpublic Group (IPG) announced that Harris Diamond, CEO and Chairman of IPG's Constituency Management Group and Weber Shandwick, will replace Nick Brien at McCann WorldGroup. BMO's Dan Salmon believes the changes are good optically and for sentiment as the move "only removes an overhang and does nothing for new business (yet)". While rumors abounded that the firm was looking at its options outside the company, the final choice was internal. Salmon thinks that makes sense: Diamond brings 10+ years of CEO -level experience and a reputation for strong management of collaborative assignments. Salmon raised BMO's EPS estimates to reflect last week's debt refinancing which lowered interest expense and share count. He brought 2013 EPS to $0.95 (from $0.90) and 2014 to $120 (from $1.15) and rates IPG shares Outperform.

Wall Street spent much of this week assimilating this quarter's earnings news and figuring out what the near future has in store for media investors.