Gray Media (NYSE:GTN.A) & Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) Critical Review

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN.A) and Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Gray Media and Versant, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gray Media	0	0	0	0	0.00
Versant	0	7	1	0	2.12

Versant has a consensus target price of $43.20, indicating a potential upside of 10.77%. Given Versant’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Versant is more favorable than Gray Media.

Dividends

Gray Media pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Versant pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Gray Media pays out -52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Versant pays out 43.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Gray Media is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.3% of Gray Media shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.3% of Gray Media shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Versant shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Gray Media and Versant’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gray Media	-0.83%	-1.12%	-0.23%
Versant	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gray Media and Versant”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gray Media	$3.10 billion	0.19	-$85.00 million	($0.61)	-9.25
Versant	$6.69 billion	0.81	$930.00 million	$3.48	11.21

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

Summary

Versant beats Gray Media on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gray Media

Gray Television, Inc., a television broadcast company, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. As of February 28, 2019, it owned and operated television stations in 91 television markets broadcasting approximately 400 program streams, including approximately 150 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network, and the FOX Network. The company also broadcasts secondary digital channels affiliated to ABC, CBS, and FOX, as well as channels affiliated with various other networks and program services, including CW Plus Network, MY Network, the MeTV Network, This TV Network, Antenna TV, Telemundo, Cozi, Heroes and Icons, and MOVIES! Network; and local news/weather channels in various markets. In addition, it is also involved in the video program production, marketing, and digital businesses including Raycom Sports, Tupelo-Raycom, and RTM Studios; and production of PowerNation programs and content. The company was formerly known as Gray Communications Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Gray Television, Inc. in August 2002. Gray Television, Inc. was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Versant

Versant Corporation is a provider of data management software. The Company designs, develops, markets and supports database management system products that companies use to solve data management and data integration issues. It also provides related product support, training and consulting services to assist users of the Company’s products in developing and deploying software applications based on its products. The Company’s Versant Object Database product is used primarily by enterprises, which have data management requirements, such as technology providers, telecommunications carriers, Government defense agencies, defense contractors, healthcare companies and companies in the financial services and transportation industries. In addition to its product offerings, to assist users in their development and deployment of applications based on the Versant Object Database, FastObjects and db4o, it offers related professional services.