New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and Informa (OTCMKTS:IFJPY) Critical Contrast

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and Informa (OTCMKTS:IFJPY) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for New York Times and Informa, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
New York Times	0	3	3	0	2.50
Informa	0	0	0	0	N/A

New York Times currently has a consensus target price of $45.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.19%. Given New York Times’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe New York Times is more favorable than Informa.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.4% of New York Times shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Informa shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of New York Times shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

New York Times pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Informa pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. New York Times pays out 37.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Informa pays out 82.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. New York Times has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares New York Times and Informa’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
New York Times	9.58%	16.48%	10.66%
Informa	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares New York Times and Informa’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
New York Times	$2.43 billion	2.86	$232.39 million	$1.39	30.37
Informa	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.43	47.80

New York Times has higher revenue and earnings than Informa. New York Times is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Informa, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

New York Times beats Informa on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company's mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast. The company also offers The Athletic, a sports media product; Cooking, a recipe product; Games, a puzzle games product; and Audio, an audio product. In addition, it offers a portfolio of advertising products and services to advertisers, such as luxury goods, technology, and financial companies, to promote products, services or brands on digital platforms in the form of display ads, audio and video, in print in the form of column-inch ads, and at live events; and Wirecutter, a product review and recommendation product. Further, the company licenses content to digital aggregators in the business, professional, academic and library markets, and third-party digital platforms; articles, graphics, and photographs, including newspapers, magazines, and websites; and for use in television, films, and books, as well as provide rights to reprint articles, and create and sell new digests. Additionally, it engages in commercial printing and distribution for third parties; and operates the NYTimes.com website. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Informa

Informa plc operates as an international events, digital services, and academic knowledge company in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, North America, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Informa Markets, Informa Tech, Informa Connect, and Taylor & Francis. The Informa Connect segment delivers specialist content, and live events and on-demand experiences for professionals through in-person, live, and digital platforms and services that enables businesses and professionals to meet, network, discuss, and learn. This segment operates events in the finance, biotech and pharma, and other specialist markets, including food and hospitality, marketing, and pop culture. The Informa Markets segment enable buyers, sellers, and decision makers to meet, discover, and showcase new products in various specialist markets. Its brands deliver smart events, including must-attend trade-focused exhibitions, specialist content, specialist data, and targeted digital services comprising lead and demand generation solutions. The Informa Tech segment offers specialist content, research and media, and market access through live and online industry events and communities, audience development, and digital demand generation services. It serves cybersecurity, enterprise technology, media and entertainment, artificial intelligence and the internet of things, and channels markets. The Taylor & Francis segment curates and publishes applied academic research and knowledge focusing on science, technology, medicine, and humanities and social sciences in pay-to-publish and pay-to-read formats, open research, and advanced learning. The company was formerly known as T&F Informa plc and changed its name to Informa plc in August 2005. Informa plc was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.