Reviewing Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) & News (NASDAQ:NWS)

News (NASDAQ:NWS – Get Free Report) and Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

News has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nexstar Media Group has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

14.6% of News shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.3% of Nexstar Media Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.1% of News shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.0% of Nexstar Media Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares News and Nexstar Media Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Dividends

News pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Nexstar Media Group pays an annual dividend of $7.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. News pays out 19.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nexstar Media Group pays out 142.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Nexstar Media Group has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Nexstar Media Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for News and Nexstar Media Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

Nexstar Media Group has a consensus target price of $256.50, suggesting a potential upside of 58.24%. Given Nexstar Media Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Nexstar Media Group is more favorable than News.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares News and Nexstar Media Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

News has higher revenue and earnings than Nexstar Media Group. News is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nexstar Media Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

News beats Nexstar Media Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About News

(Get Free Report)

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other. The company distributes content and data products, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily, Factiva, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires, and Dow Jones Energy through various media channels, such as newspapers, newswires, websites, mobile apps, newsletters, magazines, proprietary databases, live journalism, video, and podcasts. It also owns and operates Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, weekly, and bi-weekly newspapers comprising The Australian, The Weekend Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Herald Sun, Sunday Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Sunday Mail, The Advertiser, Sunday Mail, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times, The Sunday Times, and New York Post, as well as digital mastheads and other websites. In addition, the company publishes general fiction, nonfiction, children’s, and religious books; provides sports, entertainment, and news services to pay-TV and streaming subscribers, and other commercial licensees through satellite and internet distribution; and broadcasts rights to live sporting events. Further, it offers property and property-related advertising and services on its websites and mobile applications; digital real estate services; and financial services. News Corporation was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Nexstar Media Group

(Get Free Report)

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. operates as a diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports and entertainment content across the television and digital platforms in the United States. It owns, operates, programs, or provides sales and other services to various markets; and offers television programming services. The company offers video and display advertising platforms that are delivered locally or nationally through its own and various third party websites, mobile and over-the-top applications, other digital media solutions to media publishers, and advertisers and a consumer product reviews platform. In addition, it owns NewsNation, a national cable news network; and WGN-AM, a Chicago radio station, as well as owns and operates digital multicast networks and other multicast network services. Further, its digital assets include local websites, mobile applications, connected television applications, free-ad supported television channels representing products of local television stations, The CW, The Hill and BestReviews, and a suite of advertising solutions. Additionally, the company engages in digital business; and management of real estate assets, including leasing of owned office and production facilities. Its stations are affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and other broadcast television networks. The company was formerly known as Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. and changed its name to Nexstar Media Group, Inc. in January 2017. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.