Financial Survey: TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) versus Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA)

TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) and Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Dividends

TEGNA pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Saga Communications pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. TEGNA pays out 17.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Saga Communications pays out 181.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TEGNA has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares TEGNA and Saga Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TEGNA	15.29%	17.13%	6.94%
Saga Communications	3.15%	2.09%	1.56%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for TEGNA and Saga Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TEGNA	0	1	3	0	2.75
Saga Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00

TEGNA currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.01%. Given TEGNA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe TEGNA is more favorable than Saga Communications.

Volatility and Risk

TEGNA has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saga Communications has a beta of 0.29, indicating that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.2% of TEGNA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of Saga Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of TEGNA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.4% of Saga Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TEGNA and Saga Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TEGNA	$3.07 billion	0.90	$599.82 million	$2.84	6.07
Saga Communications	$111.84 million	0.76	$3.46 million	$0.55	23.93

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

Summary

TEGNA beats Saga Communications on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc., a media company, provides broadcast advertising and marketing products and services for businesses. The company operates 47 television stations in 39 markets of the United States that produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment. It offers local and national non-political advertising; political advertising; production of programming from third parties; production of advertising materials; and digital marketing services, as well as advertising services on the stations' Websites, tablets, and mobile products. The company also sells commercial advertising spots of its television stations. In addition, it operates Premion, an over the top local advertising network; Hatch, a centralized 360-degree marketing services agency; and radio broadcast stations. The company was formerly known as Gannett Co., Inc. and changed its name to TEGNA Inc. in June 2015. TEGNA Inc. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

About Saga Communications

Saga Communications, Inc., a media company, engages in acquiring, developing, and operating broadcast properties in the United States. The company's radio stations employ various programming formats, including classic hits, country, classic country, hot/soft/urban adult contemporary, oldies, classic rock, rock, and news/talk. It owns and operates FM and AM radio stations, and metro signals serving various markets. Saga Communications, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.