Analyzing USA Today (TDAY) and Its Competitors

USA Today (NYSE:TDAY) is one of 257 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare USA Today to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares USA Today and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USA Today	-1.81%	-21.13%	-1.85%
USA Today Competitors	-19.43%	-47.79%	-5.04%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares USA Today and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
USA Today	$2.23 billion	$1.75 million	-20.63
USA Today Competitors	$3.21 billion	$35.34 million	6.00

USA Today’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than USA Today. USA Today is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

USA Today has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, USA Today’s rivals have a beta of 0.96, meaning that their average share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for USA Today and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USA Today	1	1	2	0	2.25
USA Today Competitors	2315	6886	10723	487	2.46

USA Today currently has a consensus target price of $9.03, indicating a potential upside of 45.80%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.49%. Given USA Today’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe USA Today is more favorable than its rivals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.7% of USA Today shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of USA Today shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

USA Today rivals beat USA Today on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

USA Today Company Profile

Gannett Co Inc. invests in, owns, and operates local media assets in the United States. The company’s principal products include 125 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 1.4 million; 314 weekly newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 315,000 and total free circulation of approximately 1.9 million; 124 shoppers with total circulation of approximately 3.0 million; and 538 locally-focused Websites, including Internet and mobile devices with approximately 224 million page views per month. Its principal products also comprise 2 yellow page directories with a total distribution of approximately 230,000 that cover a population of approximately 411,000 people; 68 business publications; and Propel digital marketing and business services. In addition, the company produces niche publications that address specific local market interests, such as recreation, sports, healthcare, and real estate. Further, it provides print and online products that offer local market news and information on various topics comprising local news and politics, community and regional events, youth sports, opinion and editorial pages, local schools, obituaries, weddings, and police reports, as well as print and digital advertising products, as well as commercial printing and regional business-oriented publications services. The company reaches approximately 20 million people per week; and serves approximately 220,000 business customers. New Media Investment Group Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.