News (NASDAQ:NWS – Get Free Report) and E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
14.6% of News shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.8% of E.W. Scripps shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of News shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of E.W. Scripps shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
News pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. E.W. Scripps pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. News pays out 19.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. E.W. Scripps pays out -1.4% 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. E.W. Scripps is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| News | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.50 |
| E.W. Scripps | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
E.W. Scripps has a consensus target price of $5.90, indicating a potential upside of 86.71%. Given E.W. Scripps’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe E.W. Scripps is more favorable than News.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares News and E.W. Scripps”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| News | $9.03 billion | 1.96 | $573.00 million | $1.03 | 31.76 |
| E.W. Scripps | $2.09 billion | 0.14 | -$100.88 million | ($13.94) | -0.23 |
News has higher revenue and earnings than E.W. Scripps. E.W. Scripps is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than News, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk
News has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, E.W. Scripps has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares News and E.W. Scripps’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| News | 6.35% | 7.09% | 4.27% |
| E.W. Scripps | -58.02% | -4.58% | -0.53% |
Summary
News beats E.W. Scripps on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About News
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 E.W. Scripps
The E.W. Scripps Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a media enterprise through a portfolio of local television stations, national news, and entertainment networks in the United States. It operates through Local Media, Scripps Networks, and Other segments. The Local Media segment operates broadcast television stations, which produce news, information, sports, and entertainment content, as well as its related digital operations; runs network, syndicated, and original programming, and local sporting events; and provides core and political advertising services. The Scripps Networks segment offers national television networks through free over-the-air broadcast, cable/satellite, connected TV, and digital distribution. This segment also provides Scripp News, a national news network, which provides politics, entertainment, science, and technology news; Court TV, which showcases live trials; entertainment brands, such as Bounce, Defy TV, Grit, ION Mystery, and Laff; and ION, a national network of broadcast stations and broadcast television spectrum, which distributes programming through Federal Communications Commission-licensed television stations, as well as affiliated TV stations through over-the-air broadcast and pay TV platforms. In addition, it provides content and services through digital platforms, including the Internet, smartphones, and tablets; Nuvyyo, which offers consumers DVR product solutions to watch and record free over-the-air HDTV on connected devices; and Scripps National Spelling Bee, which shows educational programs. The company serves audiences and businesses through cable and satellite service providers. The E.W. Scripps Company was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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