Financial Analysis: Gray Media (GTN) & Its Peers

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

Profitability

This table compares Gray Media and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gray Media	-0.83%	-1.12%	-0.23%
Gray Media Competitors	-19.43%	-47.79%	-5.04%

Volatility and Risk

Gray Media has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Gray Media’s competitors have a beta of 0.96, meaning that their average stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gray Media and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gray Media	$3.15 billion	-$85.00 million	-7.63
Gray Media Competitors	$2.98 billion	$35.12 million	6.35

Gray Media has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Gray Media is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of Gray Media shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Gray Media shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by 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.

Dividends

Gray Media pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. Gray Media pays out -52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.3% and pay out 186.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Gray Media is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Gray Media and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gray Media	1	2	3	0	2.33
Gray Media Competitors	2316	6887	10725	487	2.46

Gray Media presently has a consensus target price of $7.88, suggesting a potential upside of 69.17%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 23.72%. Given Gray Media’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gray Media is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

Gray Media beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Gray Media

Gray Television, Inc., a television broadcasting company, owns and/or operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. It also broadcasts secondary digital channels affiliated to ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as various other networks and program services, including CW Plus Network, MY Network, the MeTV Network, Circle, Telemundo, THE365, and Outlaw; and local news/weather channels in various markets. It owns and operates television stations and digital assets that serve television markets in the United States. The company was formerly known as Gray Communications Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Gray Television, Inc. in August 2002. Gray Television, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.