News (NASDAQ:NWS – Get Free Report) and Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.
Volatility & Risk
News has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Optimum Communications has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
14.6% of News shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.8% of Optimum Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of News shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.4% of Optimum Communications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| News | 6.35% | 7.09% | 4.27% |
| Optimum Communications | -58.15% | N/A | -0.70% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for News and Optimum Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| News | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.50 |
| Optimum Communications | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.56 |
Optimum Communications has a consensus price target of $0.92, indicating a potential downside of 6.63%. Given Optimum Communications’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Optimum Communications is more favorable than News.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares News and Optimum Communications”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| News | $9.03 billion | 1.89 | $573.00 million | $1.03 | 30.60 |
| Optimum Communications | $8.59 billion | 0.03 | -$1.87 billion | ($10.39) | -0.09 |
News has higher revenue and earnings than Optimum Communications. Optimum Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than News, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
News beats Optimum Communications on 11 of the 15 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 Optimum Communications
Altice USA, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to approximately five million residential and business customers. The company’s video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications. It also provides voice over Internet protocol telephone services; and mobile services, such as data, talk, and text. In addition, the company offers Ethernet, data transport, IP-based virtual private networks, Internet access, and telephony services; hosted telephony services, managed Wi-Fi, managed desktop and server backup, and collaboration services comprising audio and web conferencing; fiber-to-the-tower services to wireless carriers; data services consisting of wide area networking and dedicated data access, as well as wireless mesh networks; and enterprise class telephone services that include traditional multi-line phone service. Further, it provides business e-mail, hosted private branch exchange, web space storage, and network security monitoring; and international calling and toll free numbers. Additionally, the company offers audience-based and IP-authenticated cross-screen advertising solutions; and television and digital advertising services, as well as operates news channels under the News 12 Networks, Cheddar, and i24NEWS names. It also provides broadband communications and video services under the Optimum and Suddenlink brands. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Long Island City, New York. Altice USA, Inc. is a subsidiary of Next Alt. S.a.r.l.
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